Next generation of industrial silicon solar cells with efficiencies above 20%

In order to make PV an economical source of energy, cell efficiencies have to be drastically increased. A new generation of high-efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells based on the OECO (obliquely evaporated contact) technology was introduced by us, using only few, simple and environmentally benign fabrication steps. In this paper progress of the OECO solar cells is presented. This includes the superior performance of the cells under realistic illumination conditions below 1 sun and at temperatures ranging from -40/spl deg/C to +80/spl deg/C. For the industrial size of 10/spl times/10 cm/sup 2/ record efficiencies up to 20% were achieved both on FZ-Si and on Ga-doped Cz-Si. This is the highest efficiency reported for large-area industrially feasible silicon solar cells. The custom-made construction of a 1 MW/year pilot line presently installed is outlined, demonstrating that economic and environmentally benign mass production of 20% efficient silicon solar cells is no vision any more.