The Status of Silicon Solar Cell Production Technology Development at Fraunhofer ISE

The development of new production technologies for crystalline silicon solar cells has been very actively addressed by both research institutes and industry in the past ten years due to the increased economical value of photovoltaic energy conversion. In this paper we describe selected approaches being followed at Fraunhofer ISE in order to support the cost reduction objectives. A simple screen-printing reference process was developed with an efficiency potential of 18% for mono-crystalline silicon wafers. The set up of the Photovoltaic-Technology Evaluation Center (PV-TEC) enables a fast evaluation of new technologies on pilot scale throughput of several hundred wafers/hour