First Solar has entered into a two-year collaboration and licensing agreement with Intermolecular (IMI) focused on further increases to the conversion efficiency of First Solar’s cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cell technology. Within the new collaborative program, the two companies will work together to develop disruptive new approaches to increasing the performance of CdTe solar cell technology using Intermolecular’s proprietary High Productivity Combinatorial (HPC(TM))platform. According to First Solar, the program targets substantial gains in its module conversion efficiency beyond its previously announced roadmap.

“We are excited to extend and deepen our collaboration with IMI. The combinatorial approach to material and process screening has shown promise to augment First Solar’s already world-leading research and development capabilities in CdTe solar technology, enabling better performance and faster time-to-market,” said Raffi Garabedian, First Solar’s Chief Technology Officer.

Garabedian added the company is confident that this effort will bear fruit in the coming years and believes that this project, in combination with other R&D advances, will extend the company’s leadership in photovoltaic technology and further enhance value for our power plant customers.

Sandeep Nijhawan, Vice President and General Manager of Intermolecular’s Clean Energy Group, added, “We are excited to partner with First Solar, a global leader in thin-film photovoltaic technology and systems. Extending and expanding the collaboration with First Solar after working closely with them last year represents tremendous validation of our value proposition. We look forward to be closely working with First Solar to further increase CdTe solar cell conversion-efficiency by leveraging our HPC platform and capabilities.”