20PLµS · 20 percent efficiency on less than 100 µm thick industrially feasible c-Si solar cells

The overall objective of the current project is a significant contribution to the dissemination of PV in order to improve the sustainability of the European energy supply and to strengthen the situation of the European PV industry.The approach to reach this overall objective is the development of solar cells which are substantially thinner than today’s common practice. We will reduce the current solar cell thickness of typically 180 µm down to a minimum of 50 µm. At the same time we target to produce solar cells with high efficiencies in the range of 20% light conversion rate into power. The processes will be optimized and transferred into a pilot production line aiming at an efficiency of 19.5% on wafers of 100 µm thickness at a yield that is comparable to the one in standard production lines. This shall help to drive down production costs significantly and save Si resources from today’s 8 grams per watt to 3 grams per watt.In more detail the following topics are addressed: Wafering from Si ingots, surface passivation, light trapping, solar cell and module processing and handling of the thin wafersThe partners of this project form an outstanding consortium to reach the project goals, including four leading European R&D institutes as well as four companies with recorded and published expertise in the field of thin solar cells and modules and handling of such. The project is structured in 10 work packages covering the process chain from wafer to module and the transfer into pilot production already at mid term as well as integral eco-assessment and management tasks.