Development and manufacturing of CIS thin film solar modules

Thin film modules based on CIS-technology with power outputs ranging between 5 and 40 W and corresponding circuit aperture area efficiencies between 9.6% and 11% have been introduced recently by Siemens Solar. Current status of production yield and performance is presented demonstrating significantly higher performance than alternative thin film technologies. Further developments have resulted in new champion efficiencies of 12.1% for a large commercial size modules and 14.7% for a small laboratory module.