Printed Electronics Now staff10.27.20
Meyer Burger Technology Ltd extends its existing collaboration with the Swiss research and development center CSEM.
The scientists from CSEM and Meyer Burger Research, the subsidiary responsible for research and development, have been working successfully on new technologies for the production of highly efficient solar cells and modules for more than seven years.
The focus of this work is on the transfer of new photovoltaic technologies to industrial mass production towards average manufacturing efficiencies at module level exceeding 24% and the corresponding reduction of manufacturing costs.
"CSEM has supported us significantly in the development of our proprietary Heterojunction/SmartWire technology and made an important contribution to the further commercialization of our technology," said Gunter Erfurt, CEO of Meyer Burger Technology Ltd.
The milestone currently achieved is the development of a cell process that achieves remarkable efficiencies. Fraunhofer ISE certified efficiency of 25.4% for solar cells on standard industrial wafers manufactured at the Meyer Burger Research Center in Neuchâtel, in close collaboration with CSEM.
This is one of the highest efficiencies reported on the industrial wafer so far. The process uses contacts on the back to convert additional sunlight into electricity and offers a perspective for the simplified, competitive cost manufacturing, ultra-high efficiency crystalline silicon modules.
"Meyer Burger has been a trustful partner for many years now, and we could help it in building up an amazing technology portfolio. It will allow Meyer Burger to play an important role in PV manufacturing over the coming years,” said Christophe Ballif, VP of the CSEM and director of the CSEM PV Center.