Source/Type: CompoundSemi Online -- Compound Semiconductor Supply Chain News - Reported News

China Nuvo Solar Energy to Use Thin Film CIGS in Its Pilot Production Project
Author: CompoundSemi News Staff

April 9, 2008... China Nuvo Solar Energy Inc. of West Palm Beach, Florida USA, announced that it will be developing a low-cost solar cell based on thin-film CIGS technology with its collaboration partner, Pioneer Materials, Inc. ("PMI"), at its pilot production facility in Chengdu, China. China Nuvo points out that with thin-film manufacturing techniques, CIGS thin-film solar cells can be made with 1/100th of the materials used in crystalline based silicon solar cells.

As the company previously announced, it is collaborating with PMI to develop a single junction solar cell with commercial efficiency. The solar cell will utilize materials provided by PMI and incorporated into the China Nuvo Solar’s ceramic sleeve solar technology. China Nuvo Solar expects the solar cell to provide the baseline for development of a multi-stacked solar cell capable of higher degree of efficiency.

The company contends that thin film CIGS represent second generation solar technology when compared to traditional poly-Si manufacturing technology. China Nuvo Solar says that CIGS allows for significantly reduced wafer thicknesses with a significant increase in per kilogram wattage production when compared to poly-Si material. Additionally the company says that CIGS avoids the cadmium toxicity issues of other thin-film technology, CdTe or cadmium telluride. The company also says that thin-film CIGS solar cells require less energy to be manufactured. Company News Release

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