Commercialization of CIS-Based Thin-Film PV: Final Technical Report, August 1998--November 2001

This report describes the primary objectives of this subcontract, which are to scale up substrate size and to scale up production capacity of the baseline Siemens Solar Industries (SSI) CIS-based module process while introducing CIS-based products. The primary goals are to scale the substrate size from about 900 cm2 (1 ft2) to approximately 4000 cm2 by the middle of Phase II, and to achieve pilotproduction rates of 500 kW per year by the end of Phase III. Deliverables for the subcontract include CIS-based products and representative modules delivered to the NREL Module Testing Team for outdoor testing and evaluation. SSI will continue mid-term and longer-term thin-film R&D with the goals of:; ? Assuring future product competitiveness,; ? Improving module performance,; ? Reducing costper watt, and ; ? Assuring product reliability. ; Remaining R&D challenges are to scale the processes to even larger areas, to reach higher production capacity, to demonstrate in-service durability over even longer times, and to advance the fundamental understanding of CIS-based materials and devices with the goal of further efficiency improvements for future products. SSI's thin-film CIStechnology is poised to make very significant contributions to the DOE/NREL/NCPV long-term goal of higher-volume, lower-cost commercial products.