Siva Power claims 18.8% lab CIGS efficiency

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US-based start-up, Siva Power formerly Solexant, has reported a CIGS cell efficiency of 18.8% that it claims was verified by NREL in December 2013.

The company did provide further details on the cell dimensions or specifications, but touted that it had come close to equalling record cell efficiencies previously reported by the US NREL, the Swiss laboratory, EMPA and ZSW in Germany.

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Siva Power noted that it employs a three-stage co-evaporation process that was also used for the majority of previous CIGS cell records.

Charlie Gay joins Siva

The company also announced that former head of Applied Materials PV operations and a former NREL director, Charlie Gay, had agreed to join its Technical Advisory Board.

“I am honoured to join such an experienced team with Beck, Noufi, and Benner,” said Dr. Gay.  “Collectively, they represent one of the most experienced groups ever assembled for CIGS technology and high volume manufacturing.”

Siva Power is targeting mass production of CIGS thin-film modules with sub-US$0.40 per watt costs.

Update
 
Markus Beck, CTO of Siva, told Eric Wesoff from Greentechmedia (GTM) that the verified CIGS solar cell was a 0.5cm2 sample.
 
To prove its production scale capabilities a <0.002mm thin obsorber layer was deposited, generating a cell with 11 millivolts, GTM reported. A fill factor of 79% was claimed by Siva. 

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