Silicon solar cells with total area efficiency above 25 %

SunPower Corporation reports in this paper the first silicon solar cells with total area efficiency over 25 % This solar cell structure is an advanced version of the SunPower X-Series technology, which is in manufacturing at greater than 100 MW scale. Key improvements are in the area of edge loss and series resistance. Emitter recombination is also improved over previous solar cells. A loss analysis is discussed which shows rear optical loss and bulk lifetime are the largest remaining loss mechanisms. Improvements in module area losses and series resistance combined with 25 % efficiency solar cells are expected to yield >23% module level efficiency.