48

IEEE ELECTRON DEVICE LETTERS, VOL. 18, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 1997

Improved Efficiency Silicon Solar Cell Module

Jianhua Zhao, Member, IEEE, Aihua Wang, E. Abbaspour-Sani, Fei Yun, and Martin A. Green, Fellow, IEEE

Abstract This paper describes a solar cell module efficiency

of 22.3% independently measured at Sandia National Laboratories. This is the highest ever confirmed efficiency for a
photovoltaic module of this size achieved by cells made on
any material. This 787-cm2 module used 40 large-area doublelayer antireflection coated PERL (passivated emitter, rear locallydiffused) silicon cells of average efficiency of 23.1%. The doublelayer coating, together with an improved cell structure and a
shingled encapsulation technique, considerably contributed to
this efficiency improvement. Also reported is an independently
confirmed efficiency of 23.7% for a 21.60-cm2 cell of the type
used in the module, the highest efficiency ever reported for a
silicon cell of this size.
Fig. 1. Passivated emitter, rear locally-diffused (PERL) cell with a double-layer antireflection coating.

IGH-EFFICIENCY solar cell modules have been the

ultimate goal for many photovoltaic researchers, since
modules demonstrate the capability of a cell technology at the
application stage. One of the earliest attempts to produce a
very high efficiency silicon cell module was made in 1988
with a module incorporating 16 buried contact solar cells,
which demonstrated 17% efficiency [1]. Module efficiency
over 20% was firstly achieved by a concentrator silicon cell
module developed at Sandia National Laboratories in 1989
[2] using prismatic covered PESC (passivated emitter solar
cell) cells developed at the University of NSW. The first flatplate module to exceed 20% efficiency used large area PERL
cells and was also developed at the University of NSW [3].
This module demonstrated an efficiency of 20.6% in 1993.
In 1994, a module was produced using SunPower Backside
Contact solar cells, which demonstrated 21.6% efficiency [4],
the previous record for module efficiency. The present work
has further extended this performance level to 22.3%, using
a different approach.
The cell structure responsible for the present result is
the PERL (passivated emitter, rear locally-diffused) cell of
Fig. 1. Small area 4-cm PERL cells demonstrated an energy
conversion efficiency of 24.0%, confirmed by Sandia National
Laboratories under the global AM1.5 spectrum (100 mW/cm )
at 25 C, in 1994 [5]. This is the highest efficiency ever
reported for a silicon solar cell. Atomic hydrogen surface passivation, a double-layer antireflection coating and reduced cell
series resistance have been responsible for this improvement
[5].
A recent initiative has been to design and to fabricate large
area PERL cells with double-layer coatings for high-efficiency
module encapsulation. One factor limiting the application
Manuscript received September 23, 1996; revised October 17, 1996.
The authors are with the Photovoltaics Special Research Centre, University
of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia.
Publisher Item Identifier S 0741-3106(97)01244-5.

of the PERL approach to large area cells was the limited

conductivity of the metal grid due to the relatively low aspect
ratio generated by the metal plating method. A long and narrow
cm
cm was chosen to allow
cell geometry of
shorter and narrower grid lines, while maintaining low cell
resistance and hence high cell fill factors. The other reason for
the improved fill factors is due to the shingled array design
shown in Fig. 2(a). Cells overlap in the module and the cell
busbar area is shaded by the adjacent row of cells. Also due
to the shingling design, there is virtually no current flowing
laterally along the busbar. Both busbar shading and resistance
loss are completely eliminated in the module.
Fig. 2(b) shows the structure of the busbar area of a shingled
cell. This allows the diffused emitter, which forms the top
junction to the cell, to stop at the inner edge of the busbar.
Hence, shingling eliminates the peripheral loss at the busbar
side of the cell. Loss of photogenerated and injected carriers
due to high recombination at the scribed edges has been
a problem for high-efficiency cells with very high minority
carrier diffusion lengths. Using overlapped edges and lower
resistance substrates to reduce this edge recombination has also
been independently suggested by Sinton et alia for backside
contact cells [6].
Previous PERL cell modules had relatively high reflection at the cell surface after encapsulation due to the poor
performance of the single-layer SiO antireflection coating
after encapsulation. However, the present PERL cells with a
double-layer coating of ZnS/MgF give very low reflection
both before and after encapsulation.
PERL cells of the present design have been independently
measured at Sandia National Laboratories. Table I shows the
result. The busbar area of the cell was shaded by a copper
shim during the measurement. A 23.7% efficiency based on the
designated illuminated area of 21.6 cm was measured under
the 100 mW/cm , AM1.5 global spectrum, at 25 C. This is

07413106/97$10.00 1997 IEEE

ZHAO et al.: IMPROVED EFFICIENCY SILICON SOLAR CELL MODULE

49

TABLE II
THE AVERAGE PERFORMANCE OF 32 FULL-SIZED CELLS, EIGHT
HALF-SIZED CELLS, AND AREA WEIGHTED ALL CELLS, RESPECTIVELY

(a)

TABLE III
SANDIA MEASUREMENTS OF MODULE PERFORMANCE UNDER THE
STANDARD TESTING CONDITION (GLOBAL AM1.5 SPECTRUM,
1000 W/m2 , CELL TEMPERATURE 25  C), AS WELL AS ASTM AND
PVUSA TEST CONDITIONS. CELL TEMPERATURE IS 40.1 (1.7)  C
(ASTM NOCT) AND 42.1 (1.7)  C IN THE LATER TWO CASES. THE
MEASURED MODULE ILLUMINATED APERTURE AREA WAS 787 cm2

(b)
Fig. 2. (a) The shingled solar cell array design. (b) The cross section of the
cell busbar area. The metal busbar is isolated from the substrate by a thick
layer of SiO2 .
TABLE I
THE PERFORMANCE OF PERL CELLS BASED ON THE 21.6-cm2 DESIGNATED
ILLUMINATION AREA AS MEASURED AT SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES
UNDER 100 mW/cm2 , AM1.5 GLOBAL SPECTRUM, AT 25  C

the highest reported efficiency for a large area silicon cell. It

is considerably higher than the efficiency of 21.6% achieved
by the PERL cells for the previous 20.6% module [3].
The shingled cell encapsulation method of Fig. 2 completely
eliminates the cell busbar shading and resistance loss, as
previously noted. It also improves matching between the cells,
since a single poorly performing cell is less likely to limit
the array current than in the case of a conventional series
connected module. The shingling approach also allows a much
higher cell packing density, because all the neighboring cells
are performing at the same voltage level and do not need gaps
between them for insulation. Hence, the module efficiency is
a much higher fraction of the constituent cell efficiency than
with the conventional encapsulation methods.
The module was fabricated by shingling eight rows of cells,
with four full cells and one half cell in each row. The cells in
each row were connected in parallel and the eight rows were
in series. This arrangement gives good matching between the
cells and uses the minimum number of half cells, desirable
since the half cells have higher peripheral recombination loss.
A low-temperature melting-point soldering paste was used
along the cell busbar to solder each row of the cells. The

soldered cell array was laminated into a low-iron toughened

glass module using EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate) laminates and
a rear surface layer consisting of three glass cloths, EVA and
cm
cm
Tedlar. The module laminates were nominally
in size. After encapsulation and framing, a layer of magnesium
fluoride was evaporated onto the module glass surface to
simulate the use of low reflectance glass, as has been used
by some commercial cell module manufacturers.
Table II lists the average performance of the 32 full-sized
cells, the eight half-sized cells, and of all the cells weighted
by their areas. The half-sized cells have 2% relative lower
efficiencies than the full-sized cells. However, their effect on
the final average efficiency of all cells is merely 0.22% due to
their relatively small areas in the module.
The module performance was independently measured
at Sandia National Laboratories with the results shown in
Table III. At Sandia, the module was mounted onto a sun
tracking platform and its current-voltage curve measured
several hundred times over the days of April 30 and May
1, 1996. Also measured was module temperature, incident
light intensity and incident light spectral content. Statistical
analysis was used to reference the measurements to standard
AM1.5G, 1000 W/m , 25 C test conditions. The measured
module efficiency was 22.3% based on the illuminated aperture
area of the module. This is the highest ever confirmed module
efficiency for a module of this size achieved by cells made
from any materials.
The module gives an average cell open-circuit voltage
of 700.1 mV. This is very close to the average cell
tested
before encapsulation. The cells deliver an average short-circuit

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IEEE ELECTRON DEVICE LETTERS, VOL. 18, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 1997

current density
of 39.8 mA/cm . This is lower than the
tested current densities from individual cells. The optical losses
are estimated as about 1% at the cell antireflection coating
surface, 1.5% at the glass surface, and about 0.5% from less
than unity packing density. The total of about 3.0% optical loss
and about 0.5% from calibration difference and mismatch loss
are primarily responsible for reducing the module efficiency to
22.3% from the average cell efficiency of 23.1%. The fill factor
(FF) of the module is marginally higher than the fill factors of
the cells. A marginally lower series resistance connection to
cells in the module than in the cell test station together with
the current mismatch between the cells is responsible for this
change.
The module performances under other standard test conditions (ASTM and PVUSA) [7] involving higher testing
temperatures are also listed in Table III. The temperature
coefficient for module efficiency is 3349 parts per million
(ppm)/ C. This is much lower than that of a normal silicon
module (40005000 ppm/ C), arising fundamentally from the
higher open-circuit voltage of the cells as used in the module
[8]. Also of interest was that, due to the strong red response
of cells in the module, the module efficiency was about 10.6%
(relative basis) higher at AM3 than at AM1 conditions.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions
from S. Wenham, D. Roche, M. Keevers, and the other
members of the Photovoltaics Special Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney. They would also like to

acknowledge P. Taouk, and Myrium and staff from OBrien

Glass Industries Limited; B. Rodgers from Suntek; Pacific
Solar Pty. Ltd.; D. King and other members of Sandia National
Laboratories; and H. Gochermann. The Photovoltaics Special
Research Centre was established and supported under the
Australian Research Councils Research Centres Program.
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