R&D of CdTe-absorber photovoltaic cells, modules, and manufacturing equipment: plan and progress to 100 MW/yr

As part of a long-term vision of multi-GW production of photovoltaic (PV) panels per year, First Solar is implementing a plan for 17 kW/hour (/spl sim/100 MW/year for 3 shifts) production. The research and development of the cells, modules, and manufacturing equipment necessary for this level of production are discussed. A component of this plan is to raise module efficiencies to 10%, with the majority of improvement coming from (i) improvement of thin-film uniformity, and (ii) reduction of CdS layer thickness while protecting open-circuit voltage with the inclusion of a high-resistivity layer between the TCO and CdS layers. The operation of a new semiconductor deposition system at 2.9 m/sup 2//min, production throughput, and product quality are also discussed.