Recently, the Technical University (TU) of Darmstadt and CTF SOLAR produced solar cells based on Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) technology with an efficiency of 15.2%. The absorber layer was coated by vacuum evaporation (close-spaced sublimation, CSS). This technique establishes exceptionally dense and defect-free films and was developed by CTF SOLAR for mass-production processing. The enhancement of solar cell efficiency was achieved by an optimized process sequence which is now transferred to production scale. This innovative technique was developed during long term collaboration between both partners.

With this result CTF SOLAR and TU Darmstadt together make another step forward to successfully realize their development strategy. “This solar cell is an important mile stone on the path towards our next target of efficiencies higher than 17%.” said Sven Frauenstein, Chief Technology Officer of CTF SOLAR. Details of the solar cell processing will be published in a technical journal soon.

About Technical University of Darmstadt, Surface Science Division:

The surface science division of the institute of materials science is development partner of CTF SOLAR. The group uses advanced surface science techniques to investigate surfaces and interfaces of materials and materials combinations of technological use. The main research interest is directed to devices using polycrystalline compound semiconductors and interfaces between dissimilar materials. The perspectives of energy conversion (e.g. solar cells, photoelectrochemical water splitting) or storage (intercalation batteries) devices are of special interest. In addition, the fundamental processes involved in chemical and electrochemical device engineering and oxide thin films for electronic applications are investigated.

http://www.mawi.tu-darmstadt.de/of