Christophe Ballif
Christophe Ballif
Phototovoltaics & Thin Film Electronics Laboratory Institute of Microengineering, Neuchâtel
Prof Ballif has pioneered several new processes for the preparation of thin-film silicon. Upon joining the Institute of Microengineering, he initiated the development of a technique of depositing very thin layers of amorphous silicon directly on to a small plate of crystalline silicon. This results in "heterojunction cells" with a spectacular yield of 21 percent. This has enabled the Photovoltaics Laboratory to position itself as one of the pioneer laboratories worldwide.
The IMT Neuchâtel has been part of the EPFL (Swiss Federal institute of technology) since 2009. The lab focuses on thin film silicon cells and detectors, high-efficiency silicon heterojunction crystalline cells on module technology and equipment development. It contributes to technology transfer and industrialisation of novel devices. Professor Ballif graduated as a physicist from the EPFL in 1994, where he also obtained his 1998 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 then worked at the Fraunhofer ISE (Ge) on crystalline silicon photovoltaics (monocrystalline and multi-crystalline) until 2003. Following that, he joined the EMPA in Thun (CH), before becoming a full professor at the University of Neuchâtel IMT in 2004, taking over the chair of Professor A Shah. He (co-) authored over 200 journal and technical papers, as well as several patents. He sits on various advisory boards and review committee, and is a consultant for projects related to solar. His recent publications can be found here.
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