The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is collaborating with four solar energy component manufacturers such as Mossey Creek Solar, Global Solar Energy, Ferro and Ampulse to advance solar cell manufacturing technologies.
ORNL had called for proposals to address key issues prevailing in the solar cell manufacturing industry, and following a programmatic and technical review process selected proposals from the four companies.
The manufacturers are partnering with ORNL through separate cooperative research and development agreements (CRADAs). They aim to manufacture high-efficiency solar devices at reduced cost. The DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy has provided $880,000 for these projects through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The industries would provide over 50% of the total project cost.
Manufacturing of solar cells includes a variety of disciplines, such as continuous thin-film deposition, crystal growth, barrier coating, scribing and joining techniques, quality control measures and thermal annealing.
For the short-term CRADA, Global Solar Energy is developing non-vacuum deposition methods for a direct-bandgap material, copper indium gallium diselenide, used in solar cells. Ampulse is designing a roll-to-roll production process for efficient deposition of thin-film silicon. For thin-film solar cell applications, Ohio-based Ferro is developing pastes and inks for highly conductive layers. High-quality and low-cost silicon wafers that consume less energy are being manufactured by Mossey Creek Solar. These projects are expected to be completed within a period of six months.
Source: http://www.ornl.gov/