Improvements in silicon solar cell performance

Recent progress in silicon solar cell research at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) is discussed. In the high-efficiency cell area, effort has been directed at further understanding and improving the rear surface properties of PERL (passivated emitter, rear locally-diffused) cells. This has led to the demonstration of high energy conversion efficiency of 21.5% for a PERT (passivated emitter, rear totally-diffused) cell on an n-type substrate. Possibly the most noteworthy results have been obtained with a hybrid cell structure which combines the PERL cell with the laser-grooved, buried-contact cell. This hybrid structure has demonstrated 21.3% efficiency for 12 cm/sup 2/ cells and shows the potential for incorporating recent efficiency improvements into low-cost cells.<
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