Progress in multijunction amorphous silicon alloy-based solar cells and modules

✍ Scribed by S. Guha; J. Yang; T. Glatfelter; K. Hoffman; X. Xu

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 441 KB
• Volume: 34
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0927-0248
• DOI: 10.1016/0927-0248(94)90057-4

✦ Synopsis

We have achieved an initial efficiency of 11.4% as confirmed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) on a multijunction amorphous silicon alloy photovoltaic module of one-square-foot area. This is the highest initial efficiency confirmed by NREL for any thin film photovoltaic module. After light soaking for 1000 h at 50°C under one-sun illumination, a module with initial efficiency of 11.1% shows a stabilized efficiency of 9.5%. The improvement in module efficiency has been achieved by: (i) improving the performance of the component cells of the multijunction structure, (ii) optimizing the "tunnel" junction between the component cells, (iii) obtaining a better uniformity of the deposited layers over one-square-foot area, and (iv) reducing module losses.