A major advantage of the manufacturing process for CIS technology is the fact that it uses the minimum of production stages and much less material and energy. A single, end-to-end inline production process considerably reduces complexity compared to crystalline silicon solar cells: from the delivery of the substrate to the packaging of the module, AVANCIS takes less than 30 steps.

Many years of know-how lie behind this process, know-how which will continue to make the manufacture of CIS solar modules even more efficient and cost-effective in years to come through plant-oriented research.

The modules are simply thin glass plates, onto which the CIS coating of copper, indium, gallium, selenium and sulphur is applied in a two-stage process. The patented process allows optimum dosing of the raw materials, and a uniform and therefore more high-performance semiconductor layer. The materials are combined at much lower temperatures than for the manufacture of crystalline silicon solar cells. The CIS coating cools to form the electrically conductive crystal.

After the application of the electrically conductive layer on the substrate, the substrate glass is laminated with a tempered glass front panel. It is then installed in a high-quality, black anodised aluminium hollow-chamber frame, in which the coated glass-glass laminate is float mounted on a bed of glue. Meticulous quality management and a well-engineered production process ensure  high-performance solar modules with a long service life that pay back the energy used in their manufacture within an average of 13 months.