The challenges of photovoltaics by Pr. Bernard Drevillon
Conference cycle
B. Drévillon began his research career in High Energy Physics at the Ecole Polytechnique in 1969. He defended his thesis in 1973. Then he turned to the synthesis of thin layers of silicon for photovoltaic applications and participated in the creation of the Laboratory of Physics of Interfaces and Thin Layers (LPICM) at the Ecole Polytechnique in 1986. It specializes in an original optical characterization technique (spectroscopic ellipsometry) which allows real-time monitoring of the growth of layers.
The instrument will then be used commercially by Jobin-Yvon (now Horiba) from the 1990s. Several hundred ellipsometers have since been sold throughout the world. B. Drévillon directed the LPICM from 1999 to 2012 and actively participated in the creation of the Ile de France Photovoltaic Institute (IPVF, operational in 2016), in collaboration with EDF and TOTAL.
B. Drévillon is the author of more than 250 publications in peer-reviewed journals (H factor: 41) and around thirty patents. He has directed more than twenty theses. He has been a Professor at the Ecole Polytechnique since 2001, and has directed the Master RenewableEnergy Science and Technology (REST) since 2011.
