Microscale PV Cells for Concentrated PV Applications

24th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference, 21-25 September 2009, Hamburg, Germany; 170-173
We describe a process to manufacture ultrathin photovoltaic (PV) cells from crystalline silicon and gallium arsenide. The method uses technologies developed for microsystems and has been proven to release small form factor (< 1 mm) and ultrathin solar cells (1.15 μm thick for GaAs, and down to 14 μm in crystalline silicon) with demonstrated functionality. The 14 μm thick c-Si solar cells have achieved efficiencies in excess of 10%. The scale of these cells provide significant benefits for low, medium, and high concentration solar power. These benefits include simplified thermal management, better optical efficiency of the concentrating system, and low-cost module assembly. Due to these advantages over larger scale cells, our economic models predict that this technology could provide $0.50/Wpeak module manufacturing costs with additional savings in the balance of system costs relative to current PV system technologies.