A new generation of solar modules
Flexcell manufactures light, thin and flexible PV cells, using a proprietary thin film coating technology developed in the laboratories of the Institute for Micro-Technology (“IMT”) at the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. With the aim to achieve significantly lower production costs, Flexcell has industrialised the process to deposit a single amorphous silicon layer on low cost plastic substrates.


Thin film solar cells
The high costs of crystalline silicon wafers led the industry to look at cheaper raw materials for the manufacturing of solar cells.
The most common materials used are amorphous silicon or polycrystalline materials like cadmium telluride (CdTe) and copper indium (gallium) diselenide (CIS or CIGS). These materials are all good light absorbers and therefore only need to be about 1 µm thick, hence material costs are significantly reduced. All of these materials are suitable for large area deposition and hence high volume manufacturing. The thin film semi-conductor layer can be deposited either onto coated glass, stainless steel or plastic substrates.