The challenges of photovoltaics by Prof. Bernard Drevillon

B. Drévillon began his research career in High Energy Physics at the École Polytechnique in 1969. He defended his thesis in 1973. Subsequently, he shifted his work towards the synthesis of thin silicon films for photovoltaic applications and participated in the creation of the Laboratory of Physics of Interfaces and Thin Films (LPICM) at the École Polytechnique in 1986. He specialized in an original optical characterization technique (spectroscopic ellipsometry) that allows for real-time monitoring of film growth.

The instrument was later commercialized by Jobin-Yvon (which became Horiba) starting in the 1990s. Since then, several hundred ellipsometers have been sold worldwide. B. Drévillon headed the LPICM from 1999 to 2012 and actively participated in the creation of the Institut Photovoltaïque d'Île-de-France (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-index: 41) and around thirty invention patents. He has supervised more than twenty doctoral theses. He has been a professor at the École Polytechnique since 2001 and has headed the Master's in Renewable Energy Science and Technology (REST) since 2011.