New technology developments of solar cell fabrication by NEDO

The development of solar cell fabrication technologies is being conducted in the 1993-96 segment of the "New Sunshine Program". To date, a conversion efficiency of above 20% has been obtained with solar cells using III-V group compound semiconductors and single crystal silicon. Challenging R&D is under way on solar cells using amorphous silicon, polycrystalline silicon, and compound thin films, designed to lower solar cell production cost. This paper presents the goals, content, and present situations of development with these solar cell fabrication technologies.