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Copper indium gallium selenide solar cell
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<p>A copper indium gallium selenide solar cell (or CIGS cell, sometimes CI(G)S or CIS cell) is a <a href="/facts/Thin-film_solar_cell/54UK9nKn">thin-film solar cell</a> used to convert sunlight into electric power. It is manufactured by depositing a thin layer of <a href="/facts/Copper_indium_gallium_selenide/eCN2WsuD">copper indium gallium selenide</a> solid solution on glass or plastic backing, along with electrodes on the front and back to collect current. Because the material has a high <a href="/facts/Absorption_coefficient/ppCIsSGw">absorption coefficient</a> and strongly absorbs sunlight, a much thinner film is required than of other semiconductor materials. </p><p>CIGS is one of three mainstream thin-film <a href="/facts/Photovoltaic/5Xefaayl">photovoltaic</a> (PV) technologies, the other two being <a href="/facts/Cadmium_telluride_photovoltaics/fntm90oN">cadmium telluride</a> and <a href="/facts/Amorphous_silicon/lVNN0bv7">amorphous silicon</a>. Like these materials, CIGS layers are thin enough to be flexible, allowing them to be deposited on flexible substrates. However, as all of these technologies normally use high-temperature deposition techniques, the best performance normally comes from cells deposited on glass, even though advances in low-temperature deposition of CIGS cells have erased much of this performance difference. CIGS outperforms polysilicon at the cell level, however its module efficiency is still lower, due to a less mature upscaling. </p><p>Thin-film market share is stagnated at around 15 percent, leaving the rest of the PV market to conventional <a href="/facts/Solar_cell/3L814UCC">solar cells</a> made of <a href="/facts/Crystalline_silicon/nvx05hmr">crystalline silicon</a>. In 2013, the market share of CIGS alone was about 2 percent and all thin-film technologies combined fell below 10 percent. CIGS cells continue being developed, as they promise to reach silicon-like efficiencies, while maintaining their low costs, as is typical for thin-film technology. Prominent <a href="/facts/List_of_CIGS_companies/tjcG5Rr8">manufacturers of CIGS photovoltaics</a> were the later bankrupted companies <a href="/facts/Nanosolar/RTWpGUWV">Nanosolar</a> and <a href="/facts/Solyndra/CrdnYBoM">Solyndra</a>. The market leader is the Japanese company <a href="/facts/Solar_Frontier/8VpWljTb">Solar Frontier</a>, with <a href="/facts/Global_Solar/To9R7lv1">Global Solar</a> and GSHK Solar also producing solar modules free of any heavy metals such as cadmium and/or lead. Many CIGS solar panel manufacturer companies have gone bankrupt. </p>