Material Expert, Thin-Film Solar Innovator Address Chinese PV Market

Advanced Technology & Materials Co. Ltd. and Odersun AG plan to form a joint venture in Beijing for the production and sale of solar cells and modules based on Odersun proprietary thin-film technology. Solar cells are produced by creation of a copper-indium-disulphide semiconductor on long reels of copper tape (CISCuT).

Alexander E. Braun, Senior Editor -- PV Society, 11/3/2009

Advanced Technology & Materials Co. Ltd. (AT&M, Beijing), a high-tech enterprise in advanced materials, and Odersun AG (Berlin), which manufactures thin-film solar cells and modules, announced a plan to form a joint venture in Beijing for the production and sale of solar cells and modules based on Odersun proprietary thin-film technology.

Odersun solar cell production on copper tape, using the company's proprietary reel-to-reel system. (Source: Odersun)

Odersun solar cells are produced by creation of a copper-indium-disulphide semiconductor on long reels of copper tape (CISCuT). This 1 cm wide and 0.1 mm thick copper tape is not only used to form the CIS semiconductor but also acts as the substrate and the carrier material for the solar cell.

Using a patented reel-to-reel production process, the 1 µm thin active cell layer is created in only three stages. The completed reels of solar cells are cut into strips, slightly overlapped and interconnected using conductive glue. The length of the individual cell strips determines the current that can be drawn, and the number of cells interconnected in series defines the voltage. The modules are composed of one or multiple cell modules connected in parallel. They can be individually packaged in either a flexible film laminate or a rigid glass-film laminate. In this way the size, power and design of the modules may be adjusted to the customer's specification.

The companies established their relationship in 2004, when AT&M became an early investor in Odersun and a strategic partner in a number of joint research projects. As renewable energy support plans continue to drive significant growth in China's PV sector, both companies have now joined forces to address the fast-growing market through this joint venture. The construction of the joint venture's manufacturing facilities in China is expected to start during 2010.