Giant International Business Machines Corp. (IBM: News, Chart, Quote ) announced that it would collaborate with semiconductor process company Tokyo Ohka Kogyo Co., Ltd., to launch new, low-cost methods for bringing the next generation of solar energy products to market.
Both the companies agreed to jointly develop processes, materials, and equipment suitable for the production of Copper-Indium-Gallium-Selenide or CIGS, solar cell modules, IBM noted.
IBM assures that use of CIGS will reduce the overall cost of solar cells and will also enable their widespread adoption.
New, non-vacuum, solution-based manufacturing processes for CIGS solar cells has been developed by IBM and is aiming efficiencies about 15% and higher. Presently, thin film product efficiencies vary from around 6% to less than 12%.
Thin-film CIGS solar cells can be 100x thinner than silicon-wafer cells, can be deposited on cheap glass substrates, and thus have correspondingly lower cost. Thin-film solar cells also have the advantage that they could be arranged on a flexible backing, suitable for the tops and sides of buildings, tinted windows, and other surfaces.
IBM Research is investigating four main areas of photovoltaic research such as using present technologies to develop cheaper and more efficient silicon solar cells, developing new solution-processed thin-film photovoltaic devices, concentrator photovoltaics, and future generation photovoltaic architectures based upon nanostructures such as semiconductor quantum dots and nanowires.
IBM closed Friday's regular trade at $126.15, up $2.30 or 1.86%, on a volume of 6.38 million shares.
