Open AccessIncreasing the Photovoltaic Efficiency
Author(s) -
Oesterlin Peter,
Purath Andreas
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
laser technik journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1863-9119
pISSN - 1613-7728
DOI - 10.1002/latj.201090003
Subject(s) - photovoltaic system , wafer , structuring , production (economics) , solar cell , computer science , process (computing) , volume (thermodynamics) , laser , process engineering , engineering physics , materials science , nanotechnology , business , electrical engineering , optoelectronics , economics , optics , engineering , physics , finance , quantum mechanics , macroeconomics , operating system
Abstract Driven by falling prices and competitive pressure manufacturers of photovoltaic cells are seeking for new methods and cell concepts to reduce production costs and increase cell efficiency. Developments which have been of more academic interest over the past years are close to find their way into volume production. While laser applications are already standard for structuring of thin film PV glass panels, they are not yet widely established in the silicon‐wafer‐based cell manufacturing, which still represents more than 80% of the photovoltaic market. However, without adding too much complexity to the process flow most of the new cell concepts are only feasible by introduction of laser processes.