Trade Resources Industry Views Stion Corp of San Jose Has Received a $2m Award From The US Department

Stion Corp of San Jose Has Received a $2m Award From The US Department

Stion Corp of San Jose, CA, USA, which makes nanostructure-based CIGSSe (copper indium gallium sulphur-diselenide) thin-film photovoltaic panels, has received a $2m award from the US Department of Energy's SunShot Initiative to continue pilot production and scale-up of its thin film modules based on proprietary tandem junction technology.

The award is a Tier 2 grant under the Sunshot's Incubator 7 Program and is designed to accelerate the transition to commercial production. Stion is expanding production at both its San Jose headquarters and its first mass-production facility, in Hattiesburg, MS (opened earlier this year). The latest grant is a follow-on to the Tier 1 award given to Stion in February 2011. As part of Tier 1, Stion advanced its technology into the commercial prototype stage and produced tandem junction prototype modules at 18.8% aperture efficiency (the highest for any module prototype based on thin-film technology, it is claimed).

"Our progress on the tandem technology demonstrates that thin films can achieve industry-leading efficiencies on a scalable, low-cost production platform," says president & CEO Chet Farris. 

Stion says that its unique approach to thin-film PV leverages proprietary materials and device expertise along with a robust, high-volume manufacturing process based on readily available, standardized equipment. In March the firm began shipments of products based on its single-junction CIGSSe technology, and has produced commercial modules with aperture efficiency as high as 15.6%.

Stion says that the tandem junction module would increase efficiency by enabling broader and more effective harvesting of available light using an additional thin-film device. It utilizes mechanically stacked top and bottom devices to eliminate the design and manufacturing challenges associated with traditional junction integration, and maintains the same glass/glass packaging design as Stion's current commercial modules.

Source: http://www.semiconductor-today.com/news_items/2012/NOV/STION_211112.html
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Stion Wins $2m Grant From Doe’S Sunshot Initiative
Topics: Metallurgy