Q CELLS > 24% Silicon Solar Cells With Mass-Production Processes

Within the last years, Q CELLS has developed a silicon solar cell structure yielding an energy conversion efficiency exceeding 24%. The cell structure features a so-called passivating contact consisting of an interfacial oxide and an n-type polysilicon layer on the rear side, double-sided screen-printed metal contacts, a module-optimized anti-reflective coating, a homogeneous front-side emitter, and an n-type silicon substrate. For the fabrication of this type of solar cell, a lean processing sequence has been applied by using exclusively mass-production processes in Q CELLS’ pilot R&D line in Thalheim, Germany. For module integration, state-of-the-art technology, such as half-cells, multi-wire interconnection, standard encapsulants, and zero-gap technology, can be applied. Hence, this solar cell structure has the potential to fully close the small remaining gap to the highest efficiency cell technologies, such as heterojunction and rear-contact solar cells at very competitive manufacturing cost. In analogy to Q CELLS' PERC-like Q.ANTUM technology, and in contrast to conventional passivated emitter and rear cells (PERC), this novel solar cell is shown to reliably suppress light-induced degradation.