Light-trapped, interconnected, Silicon-Film{trademark} modules. Final technical status report

Technical Report · Wed Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1998

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/653971· OSTI ID:653971

Hall, R B; Rand, J A; Ford, D H; Ingram, A E ^[1]

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1. AstroPower, Inc., Newark, DE (United States)

AstroPower has continued its development of an advanced thin-silicon-based photovoltaic module product. This module combines the performance advantages of thin light-trapped silicon layers with the capability of integration into a low-cost, monolithically interconnected module. This report summarized work carried out over a 3-year, cost-shared contract. Key results accomplished during this phase include an NREL-verified conversion efficiency of 12.5% on a 0.47-cm{sup 2} device. The device structure used an insulating substrate and an active layer less than 100 {micro}m thick. A new metalization scheme was designed using insulating crossovers. This technology was demonstrated on a 36-segment, 321-cm{sup 2}, interconnected module. That module was tested at NREL with an efficiency of 9.79%. Further advances in metalization have led to an advanced single back-contact design that will offer low cost through ease of processing and higher performance through reduced shading.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States); AstroPower, Inc., Newark, DE (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-83CH10093
• OSTI ID: 653971
• Report Number(s): NREL/SR--520-24641; ON: DE98004786
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
BACK CONTACT SOLAR CELLS
DESIGN
PERFORMANCE
PROGRESS REPORT
QUANTUM EFFICIENCY
SILICON SOLAR CELLS