We’re seeing even more connections between the semiconductor industry, which has perfected the art of cost-effectively producing high-tech silicon devices, and the solar panel makers, which need to make their products more affordable.
The latest is IBM, which is one of the world’s leaders in chip-making technology and has also been quietly working on solar technology. Big Blue said this week it would work the Japanese tech company Tokyo Ohka Kogyo to develop a high-output solar cell manufacturing process, which the companies hope to have ready in about two to three years.
Most solar cells today are silicon, just like the vast majority of computer chips, but IBM is planning to use a different material, copper-indium-gallium-selenide. This technology exists now, but CIGS solar cells today typically are less effective than silicon, able to turn about 6 to 12 percent of the solar energy they absorb into electricity, compared to 20 for silicon.
IBM is shooting for 15 percent, which is an improvement for CIGS, but still short of silicon. However, the CIGS cells could offer other advantages, notably price, as silicon prices are on the rise, and weight. Tokyo Ohka Kogyo’s specialty is laying down thin films, and they hope to develop ultra-thin CIGS solar cells that would weigh less than thicker silicon, and could be installed in places where traditional solar panels cannot.
IBM also pointed out that CIGS technology is still developing, and there’s plenty of room for innovation. One researcher has produced CIGS cells with 19% efficiency, in a lab setting, which makes people optimistic that the technology could eventually reach parity with silicon, or even exceed it.
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