18.1% Efficiency for a Large Area, Multi-Crystalline Silicon Solar Cell

• Published in: 2006 IEEE 4th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conference Vol. 1; pp. 894 - 899
• Main Authors: Cann, M.M., Raabe, B., Jooss, W., Kopecek, R., Fath, P.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01-05-2006
• Subjects: Chemical vapor deposition; Coatings; Crystallization; Etching; Laboratories; Photovoltaic cells; Photovoltaic systems; Production; Silicon; Solar power generation
• ISBN: 1424400163; 9781424400164
• ISSN: 0160-8371
• DOI: 10.1109/WCPEC.2006.279600

Multi-crystalline silicon has dominated the photovoltaic market in recent years and with advances in isotexturing and the production of increasingly thinner and larger wafers it is set to play a significant role in the future. As with other cell types, laboratory efficiencies remain higher than those achieved in production. Previous large area efficiency records on multi-crystalline silicon have included a 17.6% efficient cell produced at the University of Konstanz and a 17.7% efficient cell produced by Kyocera. The 17.6% cell was made using the buried contact technique. Again using this technique and multi-crystalline silicon, we have made an 18.1% efficient cell, independently confirmed by the calibration laboratories at Fraunhofer ISE. The area of the cell is 137.7 cm 2 ; V oc is 636 mV and J sc is 36.9 mA/cm 2 . To the best of our knowledge, this is a new world record