As solar modules made of copper, indium, gallium and selenium/sulfur (CIS) have quickly been evolving as the new hope for thin-film PV, PHOTON's 3^rd Thin Film Conference on Feb. 16, 2011 in San Francisco will focus on this promising technology.
While the solar thin-film sector had to swallow plenty of bad news last year – with two silicon thin-film module producers filing for bankruptcy and their equipment supplier withdrawing from the thin-film turnkey business completely, there are a lot of positive developments on the CIS side of things.

Scale: The world's first CIS module manufacturer is about to reach nearly 1 GW of production capacity this year. Several companies in the US, Europe and Asia are also investing heavily in CIS module manufacturing capacities.

Research & development: For the first time, a CIS cell exceeded the 20-percent efficiency level in 2010. After scientists from the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research (ZSW) presented a 20.1-percent efficient CIS lab-size cell in April, they raised their record to 20.3 percent just 4 months later. With many scientists at universities and numerous companies researching and developing CIS devices, there's a good chance that module efficiency – the highest of all thin films at around 12 percent – will also see some positive momentum in the coming years.

Equipment: For a long time, CIS start-ups had to develop their own equipment for producing solar cells. As of recently, not only are several equipment makers selling commercial machines for depositing absorber layers of CIS modules, two companies are even offering CIS turnkey module production lines – one of them using the technology of a commercial CIS module maker.

The conference will include sessions on:

• Research & development: Efficiency and cost
• CIS performance: Case studies from lab and field
• Technology: Choosing the right production equipment to scale big at low cost
• Presentations of leading CIS companies
• A panel discussion

The idea of PHOTON's Thin Film Conference is to provide a networking platform for everybody involved and interested in CIS thin-film PV – from decision makers at solar companies and project developers to electric utilities and investors.
To take a look at the program of the previous event in February 2010, please go to:
www.photon-expo.com/de/pts_2010_usa/pvtfc_2010_program.htm