Tokyo, Japan, February 18, 2011— Tosoh Corporation announces its development of new transparent conducting oxide (TCO) sputtering targets that achieve higher solar cell efficiency than standard targets. Tosoh’s new TCO targets, available in planar and rotary configurations, are composed of either traditional indium tin oxide (ITO) or aluminum zinc oxide (AZO). However, they are doped with performance-enhancing additives, such that thin films deposited from these targets have improved optical properties, in particular increased transparency. As a result, the conversion efficiency of solar cells in which such thin films are applied increases more than one point compared with solar cells using thin films from conventional TCO targets.
TCO targets for leading-edge thin film solar applications require a stringent combination of optical, electrical, and mechanical properties together with durability to meet manufacturers’ lifetime expectations. Tosoh’s new ITO and AZO TCO targets meet these requirements with films that are highly transparent, especially in the visible to infrared range, and that feature high thermal stability, including under humid conditions.
Tosoh’s AZO TCO targets, moreover, enable the deposition of textured surfaces that feature enhanced light-trapping capability. Compared with thin films from conventional TCO targets, a single-junction thin film deposited by a Tosoh AZO TCO target in a silicon solar cell shows a one-point gain in conversion efficiency. Thin films, meanwhile, produced with Tosoh’s ITO TCO target achieve a similar gain in a copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS)–based solar cell.
Professor Makoto Konagai, of the Tokyo Institute of Technology, comments that “this invention will contribute to achieving the goal of 18% energy conversion efficiency with a focus on low-cost and large-scale production.â€
According to Dr. Yasuyuki Koie, Senior General Manager, of Tosoh’s Advanced Materials Division, “the improved thin films realized with Tosoh’s new TCO sputtering targets will be a great benefit to manufacturers looking to achieve higher solar cell energy conversion and to lower their overall cost per watt of production.â€
Tosoh is engaging customers for the beta testing and high-volume production of its enhanced TCO targets.
TOSOH CORPORATION
WHO WE ARE
Tosoh Corporation is a Japanese chemical company established in 1935 and listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. It is the parent of the Tosoh Group, which comprises 140 companies worldwide and a multiethnic workforce of over 11,000 people and generated net sales of ¥628.7 billion (US$6.8 billion at the year-end rate of ¥93.04 to the US dollar) in fiscal 2010, ended March 31, 2010.
WHAT WE DO
Tosoh is one of the largest chlor-alkali manufacturers in Asia. The Company supplies the plastic resins and an array of the basic chemicals that support modern life. Tosoh’s petrochemical operations supply ethylene, polymers, and polyethylene, while its advanced materials business serves the global semiconductor, display, and solar industries. Tosoh has also pioneered sophisticated bioscience systems that are used for the rapid diagnosis of life-threatening diseases, such as diabetes and certain cancers, and to prevent epidemics by identifying pathogenic microbes. In addition, Tosoh develops products and provides services to purify water and to monitor the environment as part of a commitment to a sustainable future.
Stock Exchange Ticker Symbol: JP: 4042
For more information, please contact
Michael Hoover
International Corporate Development
Tosoh Corporation
[email protected]
Tel: +81-3-5427-5118
Fax: +81-3-5427-5198
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