IBM is collaborating with Tokyo Ohka Kogyo to develop thin-film techniques that promise to make the next generation of photovoltaic devices more affordable as well as easier to install.
The companies plan to jointly develop the processes, materials and equipment needed to make highly efficient solar-cell modules based on an exotic compound known as Copper-Indium-Gallium-Selenide (CIGS).
“Our goal is to develop more efficient photovoltaic structures that would reduce the cost, minimize the complexity, and improve the flexibility of producing solar electric power,” said IBM Research Vice President Dr. Tze-Chiang Chen. “IBM’s advanced technology, combined with TOK’s expertise in equipment design and manufacture, have the potential to broaden the use of alternative energy sources.”
Lower Cost, Wider Use
IBM says it has already developed CIGS-based solar cells capable of achieving efficiencies of more than about 15 percent. By contrast, today’s solar cells — which largely rely on conventional silicon to convert sunlight into electricity — only achieve efficiencies of about six to 12 percent.
For its part, TOK says it has succeeded in formulating the high-purity chemicals and chemical-application techniques that IBM needs to mass-produce CIGS-based solar cells more cheaply. For example, TOK has developed a high-precision “spinless” technique that enables a photoresist coating to be deposited on top of glass substrates that have proven difficult to coat using conventional spin-process methods.
When applied to a cheap glass substrate, this super-thin coating can be up to 100 times thinner than a silicon wafer. This ends up cutting production costs substantially in comparison with conventional technology, the companies said.
By joining forces, the companies also expect to bring large-scale production of thin-film solar cells to market in ways that will enable them to be deployed in a wider range of applications. In particular, IBM and TOK will investigate whether thin-film solar cells could be…