The structure of the work packages is designed to research and evaluate a wide range of new and emerging concepts in thin film PV that have the potential to meet the objectives of the project. This structure is shown schematically in the diagrm below.
The most promising new concepts will be tested in thin film devices using the three technology platforms (WP4). These platforms will be maintained using proven materials and processing techniques to provide baseline devices, with known PV device characteristics. In this way, improvements achieved by modifying a process step or replacing or adding a device component (TCO, absorber, photonic nanostructures) will be quantified in terms of efficiency improvement or cost reduction.
The longer term potential for cost reduction will be established in WP5, which will analyze economic factors determining current and future costs in PV production. The potential for innovations in materials and devices to progress to development will be assessed in WP6, which deals with producibility. Techniques (such as small scale deposition processes and e-beam nano-fabrication) employed in WPs 1-3 may not be easily scalable, and hence new methods might have to be investigated that can have the potential to progress to a larger scale.
