ADVANCED BURIED CONTACT SOLAR-CELL STRUCTURE

This paper discusses the feasibility of overcoming the recombination l osses associated with the rear metal contact of buried contact solar c ells. The buried contact locally diffused rear (BCLD) structure has be en proposed as one of the structures that will limit the rear surface recombination and improve on cell efficiency. The one-dimensional (1D) modeling, using PC-1D has given an energy conversion efficiency of cl ose to 21% with all the possible losses taken into account. This means that by proper optimization of the processing steps energy conversion efficiency in excess of 19% would be achieved on large-area cells.