manufacturing challenges facing cdte and...

Markus Beck

Manufacturing challenges facing CdTe and CIGS

NSF Workshop – Catalyzing Innovation in PV Manufacturing, May 6-7, 2010, Golden, CO


Outline

• Brief market overview

• Current status

• Opportunities in TF PV manufacturing– Technological Improvements– Labor force characteristics

• Conclusions


Global Cumulative Installed Capacity of PVSelected IEA countries

2.8 3.8

5.3 1.4

1.7

1.9 0.7

3.4

0.6

0.8

1.2

0.4

0.4

0.6

0.1 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.7 1.0 1.3 1.8

2.8

3.9

5.3

7.7

13.2

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Cum

ulat

ive

Inst

alle

d Ca

paci

ty (G

W)

Rest of World

Korea

Italy

USA

Spain

Japan

Germany

Source: “Trends in photovoltaic applications”. IEA PVPS. September 2009.


Long-term View of the Solar PV Industry

Source: “Solar Photovoltaic Industry”, Deutsche Bank, May 2008

A complex marketplace


PV Technologies2008 Technology mix

Source: “Clean Technology Primer”, Jeffries Research, March 2


99 132 143 160 214 214 214176 191 214 214 214 214

382

854 854

1282 1282

107

"Copy Smart" Production Capacity Growth

25 MW100 MW

308 MW

716 MW

1,228 MW

2005 2006 2007 2008 20092005 & 2006 based on Q406 run rate; 2007 based on Q407 run rate; 2008 based on Q408 run rate; 2009 – 2012 based on Q409 run rate

Driven by increasing efficiency, run rate, and yields

2010 2011 2012

Ohio

Germany

Malaysia

France

Capacity

1,282 MW

1,709 MW1,816 MW

Plant 5 & 6

15%

First Solar 2009 Market Share*

* - based on Analyst estimated 7.3 GW global installs in 2009


Products & PerformanceProven Record of Increasing Module Conversion Efficiencies

Modules Produced

Conversion Efficiency

0.0%

2.0%

4.0%

6.0%

8.0%

10.0%

12.0%

0

500,000

1,000,000

1,500,000

2,000,000

2,500,000

3,000,000

3,500,000

4,000,000

4,500,000

Q1'

02Q

2'02

Q3'

02Q

4'02

Q1'

03Q

2'03

Q3'

03Q

4'03

Q1'

04Q

2'04

Q3'

04Q

4'04

Q1'

05Q

2'05

Q3'

05Q

4'05

Q1'

06Q

2'06

Q3'

06Q

4'06

Q1'

07Q

2'07

Q3'

07Q

4'07

Q1'

08Q

2'08

Q3'

08Q

4'08

Q1'

09Q

2'09

Q3'

09Q

4'09

Q1'

10


Conversion Efficiency Potential

Practical Potential

Research

Development

Process Integration

Current Production

18%

15.3%

13.5%12.5%

11.1%

~2014

~2012

Q410


High-Confidence Roadmap to >12.5%

• 12.5% requires closing the gap between CdTe product and lab record performance– NREL “hero” CdTe Cell is 16.5%– Best module is 80% of "hero" cell– Production average is 90% of best module– 16.5% hero-cell corresponds to ~13% production

• Pathway is mostly improved light transmission into existing device– NREL Jsc demonstrates upside of 1.3% absolute– Many opportunities for improvements in current – Technology challenge is to make these improvements manufacturable

– Reducing thickness of CdS – Proprietary improvements to TCO – Proprietary improvements to glass transmission

• FSLR Leveraging current leadership for sustained competitive differentiation


1,000 Pathways to >16% and Beyond

• Multiple approaches to driving performance

• Renewed excitement in the technical field

• Fundamental device physics and materials science

• TF-CdTe still has enormous headroom

Dopant Engineering

Band-Engineering

Contact Engineering

Optical Engineering

Grain-boundary Engineering


Opportunities in TF PV Manufacturing

1. Technological Improvements

2. Labor Force Characteristics

Key Criteriai. R&D needs to be compatible to HVM – i.e. takt times, CapEx, OpEx,

environmental impact (toxicity, CO2 footprint)ii. No need to fix what isn’t broken/reinvent the wheel


Technological Improvements

• Increased fundamental understanding of semiconductor system and interfaces

• Novel in-situ, on-line, and off-line metrology– compositional control– key opto-electronic properties– module scale solar simulators and QE

• Equipment engineering – P1 through P3 laser scribing for CIGS– thermal processing

• Reliability– fundamental understanding of device & material degradation mechanisms– new packaging materials– energy rating standards, methods and algorithms– accelerated stress test protocols representative of multiple climatic regions


Technological Improvements cont.

• Novel materials for encapsulation and device stack– ohmic back contact– TCO

• Recycling methods for CIGS

• BOS optimization – inverters optimized for TF PV– NEC revision enabling > 600V system voltage


Labor Force Characteristics

• Solid state and theoretical physicists trained in polycrystalline compound semiconductor systems

• Analytical and physical chemists as well as process engineers understanding TF deposition technologies

• Materials Scientists skilled in materials characterization and failure analysis

• Electrical engineers and physicists trained in device characterization and instrumentation

• Mechanical engineers with focus on large area, HVM deposition and automation equipment

• Computer scientists

• Sound understanding of basic principles in physics, chemistry, and engineering


Conclusions

• PV historically too expensive; conventional electricity rising in price; PV reducing cost

• Grid parity leading to inflection in price elastic demand; exponential demand leading to continued growth of PV

• CdTe clear leader in LCOE from PV; c-Si will continue to play a major role; CIGS, if commercial scale will prove viable, can emerge as competitive on cost to c-Si

• Better understanding of fundamentals for CdTe and CIGS required• Technology/engineering challenge is to make R&D improvements

manufacturable• Need for a wide array of experts – mechanical as well as electrical engineering,

physics, chemistry, materials science, and computer science


Career Opportunities at First Solarhttp://www.firstsolar.com/en/careers.php

http://www.firstsolar.com/en/careers.php�


First Solar Locations

Global Headquarters Tempe, Arizona, USA

Europe Amsterdam, Netherlands Berlin, Germany Brussels, Belgium Madrid, Spain Mainz, GermanyParis, France

Manufacturing Frankfurt (Oder), Germany Kulim, MalaysiaPerrysburg, Ohio, USA

North America Bridgewater, New Jersey, USAOakland, California, USANew York, New York, USASarnia, Ontario, Canada

Asia/Pacific Sydney, Australia

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