TSMC Solar Ltd, which was founded in May 2009 as a subsidiary of the world’s biggest silicon wafer foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Inc (TSMC), has announced confirmation by both TUV SUD and Underwriters Laboratories (UL) that its commercial-sized (1.09 square meter) champion CIGS (copper indium gallium diselenide) photovoltaic (PV) module has achieved 15.1% module total area efficiency.
The champion module sets a new record for monolithic thin-film module efficiency, and was produced using the existing manufacturing equipment and materials at the firm’s manufacturing facility in Taichung, Taiwan.
“In just one year, our process technology has made great progress,” says president Ying-Chen Chao. “Our champion modules now have comparable module efficiency to mainstream multi-crystalline silicon modules, demonstrating TSMC Solar's ability to realize the high-efficiency potential of our CIGS technology. Our technology's superior competitiveness comes from its high efficiency, excellent high-temperature performance and intrinsic cost-structure advantages,” he reckons.
“TS CIGS Series modules deliver up to 5% additional energy yield over crystalline silicon in high-temperature regions,” notes TSMC Solar’s worldwide sales head Stephen McKenery.
