The new technology, which applies a web-coating of CIGS cells to a plastic polymer film, could move thin-film manufacturing lines away from the time-consuming and labour-intensive process of individually layering the four elements that make up the flexible PV modules.

A CIGS module’s molybdenum back contact, CIGS absorber and zinc oxide window layers have now been deposited in one go using a continuously-running system by researchers at the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research (ZSW) in Baden-Württemberg.

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