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CIGS solar cells got a big boost when one
of the classical entrepreneurs from the heydays of the German economic miracle took an interest in the topic. |
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Reinhold Würth, started as an apprentice in the hardware store (specialized on screws)
of his father in Künzelsau (in Suebia). He took over, 19 years old, in 1953 when his father died. Then
he turned the small local company into the "Würth group", nowadays present in 86 countries and grossing
8.5 · 109 Euro in 2007
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1994 his daughter took over the company he founded - giving 61 year old Reinhold
Würth the opportunity to pursue a few hobbies like collecting art in a major way (he owns a few museums for his >
10.000 substantial art pieces), teaching at various universities (and collecting honorary degrees in the process), riding
his Harley-Davidson whenever he doesn't pilot his plane (he has a professional licence and his CIGS factory is next
to his private airport in Schwäbisch-Hall), or furthering the cause of alternative energy. |
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1999 he founded Würth
Solar, being fascinated with photovoltaics and in particular with CIGS. Being a successful business man, his
goal was to get the CIGS technology into industrial large-scale production |
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Cooperations with the "Zentrum für Sonnenenergie- und Wasserstoffforschung Baden-Württemberg"
(ZSW) lead
to a pilot factory in Marbach (next to the town I grew up in and birthplace of Friedrich Schiller) and to the first major CIGS factory built in 2006 in Schwäbisch
Hall for 55 · 106 Euro. |
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Here is their Internet page with some data about the factory. |
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© H. Föll (Semiconductor Technology - Script)
8.3.1 Types of Thin Film Solar Cells 
With frame