By Phedon Palinginis; Christian Kusterer; Stefan Steckemetz; René Köhler; René Härtwig; Torsten Weber; Matthias Müller; Gerd Fischer; Holger Neuhaus
SolarWorld has played a pioneering role in triggering and implementing the shift from p-type multicrystalline aluminium backsurface field (Al-BSF) to p-type monocrystalline passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC) as the next mainstream solar cell technology, and recognized PERC to be the door opener to an extremely simple and cost-effective implementation of a bifacial solar cell. This paper reviews PERC technology development at SolarWorld, featuring an industrial baseline process for monocrystalline five-busbar (5BB) p-type PERC solar cells exceeding 22.0% median (22.5% maximum) cell efficiency by May 2018, before operations at SolarWorld came to a final halt.
