SIMPLIFIED BACKSIDE-CONTACT SOLAR-CELLS

The most efficient silicon concentrator solar cells demonstrated to date, the backside point-contact cells, are generally believed to be too complex for use at low concentrations. This paper details experimental and modeling results for a new family of simplified backside-contact designs. This simplification hinges upon the demonstration of a self-aligned metallization technique as well as an optimization of heavily doped, compensated regions in the solar cell. The resulting devices can be fabricated without mask alignment, and require as few as one mask. A 10.5 cm2 one-sun cell that achieves 21.9 percent in efficiency is presented as an example of the potential for these device designs. Prospective performance for concentrator cells of this type is also discussed. © 1990 IEEE