Back-contact solar cells in thin crystalline silicon

A novel kerf-free process for achieving crystalline silicon with thickness ≅25μm on metal (SOM) is overviewed, and fabrication of back-contact (BC) solar cells in the thin silicon wafers is described. An object-oriented 2-D device simulator is set up for reliable physics-based numerical simulation of thin-Si solar cells, and is used to define optimal design of the thin BCSOM cell and to predict its ultimate performance. An efficiency approaching 20% is projected, and supporting preliminary experimental results are presented.