Thin Film Solar Technology - Building Integrated Photovoltaic

So-called thin-film photovoltaic devices are usually based on mixtures of elements other than silicon — most notably copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) — applied in a thin layer to plastic, even organic, components. Using nanotechnology and advanced materials science, thin film is able to produce power with a fraction of the materials. Similar techniques are being tried using ultra thin layers of silicon on a glass substrate, reducing what is now a 250 - micrometer (um) - thick wafer to less than 20 um. (more…)