US-based Ascent Solar Technologies (ASTI), specializing in thin-film solar technology, announced this week that for the first time, its CIGS thin-film solar cells have reached 15.2% efficiency—higher than the observed standard efficiency rate of 10.8% in materials used for production back in 2012.

ASTI attributes this achievement to the targeted optimization of the existing Cadmium Sulfide (Cds) deposition and manufacturing processes in the CIGS technology. The company substituted the next-generation material of Zinc Oxysulfide for the Cds deposition. Their research concludes that energy yields with this new material are 5% to 8% higher than those attained with a deposition of Cds; therefore, there is a theoretical efficiency between 16% and 16.4 percent achieved for cells.

Source: https://solarmagazine.com