VATIS UPDATE Article

Trina Solar, China, has announced that its State Key Laboratory (SKL) of PV Science and Technology (PVST) has set a new record of 24.13 per cent total-area efficiency for a large-area (156 x 156 mm2) n-type mono-crystalline silicon (c-Si) Interdigitated Back Contact (IBC) solar cell. The cell was fabricated on a large-sized phosphorus-doped Cz Silicon substrate with a low-cost industrial IBC process, featuring conventional tube doping technologies and fully screen-printed metallization.

The 156 x 156 mm2 solar cell reached a total-area efficiency of 24.13 per cent as independently measured by the Japan Electrical Safety & Environment Technology Laboratories (JET). The IBC solar cell has a total measured area of 243.3 cm2 and was measured without any aperture. The champion cell presents the following characteristics: an open-circuit voltage Voc of 702.7 mV, a short-circuit current density Jsc of 42.1 mA/cm2 and a fill factor FF of 81.47 per cent.

In February 2014, Trina Solar and the Australian National University (ANU) jointly announced a world record aperture efficiency of 24.37 per cent for a laboratory-scale 4 cm2 IBC solar cell, fabricated on a Float Zone (FZ) n-type substrate and using photolithography patterning. In December 2014, Trina Solar announced a 22.94 per cent total-area efficiency for an industrial version, large size (156 x 156 mm2 sub-strate), IBC solar cell.