Under intense pressure to remain the low-cost leader, First Solar is taking a leaf from the semiconductor industry by teaming up with materials specialists Intermolecular to fast-track R&D research in materials and processes to shorten the time-to-market for higher efficiency CdTe-based, thin-film PV modules. Taking record cell and module efficiencies from the lab to the fab has proved to be a perennial problem for all types of PV technology.
Intermolecular is well-known in the semiconductor industry for its High Productivity Combinatorial (HPC) platform, which works under specified R&D projects through Collaborative Development Programs (CDPs). The company employs systems and methodologies that are claimed to radically accelerate the discovery and integration of new materials, new process technologies and even new device structures for clients.
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Intermolecular’s informatics software system has been used by major leading-edge semiconductor manufacturers to enable new materials to be tested much faster than previously thought but provide complete tracking of things like experiments, while automatically analyzing and interpreting data.
Raffi Garabedian, First Solar chief technology officer commented, “Further improving our world-record CdTe conversion efficiencies remains a strong lever to reduce the cost of solar energy. We evaluated Intermolecular's HPC platform and technical team in a trial collaboration and this experience confirmed the suitability of the platform for our purposes.”
Nearly a year ago, First Solar set a world record for CdTe-based cell efficiency of 17.3%, while volume production figures for its best line have reached 13.1% in the first quarter of 2012, while the company expects the average module efficiency by the end of 2012 to be 12.7%.
With material cost reductions having been the biggest cost-per-watt driver in the last two years, further cost reduction drivers for the industry are expected to come from improved conversion efficiencies.
Craig Hunter, Intermolecular's senior vice president of global sales & marketing, added, “Leveraging our HPC platform to accelerate the PV roadmap is central to our mission at Intermolecular. Today's announcement with First Solar – a market leader in PV and the undisputed champion in thin-film PV – represents tremendous validation of that proposition, particularly given the extensive technical due diligence the First Solar team conducted prior to entering into this agreement.”
As with other CDPs Intermolecular has teamed with, the technical work will be undertaken at both Intermolecular's San Jose, California R&D facility and in First Solar's research and development labs.