Unit

Photovoltaics and Thin Film Electronics Laboratory

Laboratory

Summary

The Laboratory of Photovoltaic and Electronic Thin Layers (PV-Lab) at EPFL, founded in 1984, is a pioneering research facility led by Prof. Christophe Ballif. It specializes in thin-film silicon technology, including very high frequency plasma deposition and microcrystalline silicon for efficient photovoltaics. The lab excels in device fabrication for various solar cells, transparent conductive oxides, and specialty detectors. It is recognized as a center of national importance for its contributions to the field, with a strong focus on industrial technology transfer and innovation. The lab collaborates closely with Swiss and European research institutes and industries, playing a key role in the development of advanced photovoltaic technologies and energy systems.

Official source

Graph Chat

Chat with Graph Search

Ask any question about EPFL courses, lectures, exercises, research, news, etc. or try the example questions below.

DISCLAIMER: The Graph Chatbot is not programmed to provide explicit or categorical answers to your questions. Rather, it transforms your questions into API requests that are distributed across the various IT services officially administered by EPFL. Its purpose is solely to collect and recommend relevant references to content that you can explore to help you answer your questions.

Summary

Official source

Related people (19)

Christophe Ballif

Christophe Ballif is director of the Phototovoltaics and Thin Film Electronics Laboratoryb) (PV-Lab at the institute of microengineering (IMT) in Neuchâtel (part of the EPFL since 2009). The lab focus is on the science and technology of high efficiency heterojunction crystalline cells,so-called passivating contacts for solar cells, multi-junction solar cells include novel generation Perovskite on innovative optical high speed detector and on various macroelectronics application. It also deals with energy management with a focus on integration of solar electricity into the energy system. The PV-Lab has strongly contributed to technology transfer and industrialization of novel devices and full technology with numerous companies. Christophe Ballif graduated as a physicist from the EPFL in 1994, where he also obtained in 1998 his Phd degree working on novel PV materials. He accomplished his postdoctoral research at NREL (Golden, US) on compound semiconductor solar cells (CIGS and CdTe). He worked then at the Fraunhofer ISE (Ge) on crystalline silicon photovoltaics (monocrystalline and multi-crystalline) until 2003 and then at the EMPA in Thun (CH) before becoming full professor at the University of Neuchâtel IMT in 2004, taking over the chair of Prof. A. Shah. Since 2013, C.Ballif is also the director of the new CSEM PV-Center, also located in Neuchâtel. The CSEM PV-Center is focussing more on industrialisation and technology transfer in the field of solar energy, including solar electricity management and storage. At the core of the CSEM PV-center activities lies several "pilot lines" for various kinds of solar cells manufacturing, with a focus coating technologies, wet chemistry processes for crystalline silicon, metalisation techniques for solar cells, and a platform for developing "ideal packaging solutions and polymers" for PV modules. In addition, joined facitilites between CSEM and EPFL of over 800 m2 are available for modules manufacturing, measuring and accelerated aging. CSEM PV-center has also full team dedicated to storage and energy systems and operates a joined center with BFH in Biel for research on electrochemical storage. He (co-) authored over 500 journal and technical papers, as well as several patents. He is an elected member of the SATW, member of the scientific council of the Swiss AEE, and member of the board of the EPFL Energy center. In 2016, he recieved the Becquerel prize for his contributions to the field of high efficiency photovoltaics.

Nicolas Würsch

Alias Nicolas Wyrsch

Christian Michael Wolff

Teaching & PhD PhD Students Chiara Ongaro, Kliner Vojtech, Jonas Lasse Diekmann, Hilal Aybike Can, Yu-Hsuan Lai Past EPFL PhD Students as codirector Quentin Jean-Marie Armand Guesnay, Kerem Artuk, Deniz Türkay, Mostafa Othman Awards ZKS/EPFL PRIZE, Award in Environmental Engineering and Sustainability Zeno Karl Schindler Foundation 2025

Units doing similar research (13)

SCI STI JVH Group

SCI STI FM Group

SCI ENAC AS Group

Related publications (31)