CIGS cells with metallized front contact: Longer cells and higher efficiency

[Display omitted] •Metallic grids improve the efficiency of CIGS solar cells by 20–400%.•Metallic grids enable cell lengths up to 10mm without extra loss.•Panel design with high TCO sheet resistance of 32Ω/sq. We have investigated the benefit of a patterned metallization on top of a transparent cond...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Solar energy 2017-02, Vol.143, p.93-99
Main Authors: van Deelen, Joop, Frijters, Corné
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
CIGS
Electricity generation
Energy efficiency
Grids
Metallization
Photovoltaic cells
Solar energy
Solar panels
Thin films
Thin-film
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Summary:[Display omitted] •Metallic grids improve the efficiency of CIGS solar cells by 20–400%.•Metallic grids enable cell lengths up to 10mm without extra loss.•Panel design with high TCO sheet resistance of 32Ω/sq. We have investigated the benefit of a patterned metallization on top of a transparent conductive oxide in CIGS thin-film solar panels. It was found that cells with a grid have a higher efficiency compared to cells with only a TCO. This was observed for all cell lengths used. Furthermore, metallic grids enable increase of the cell length up to 10mm virtually without reduction in efficiency. This result was obtained with a metallic grid of 20μm wide and just 1.5μm high. In addition, the following parameters were varied: TCO sheet resistance, the grid finger width and the finger height for cell lengths up to 40mm. For cell lengths of 30mm and 40mm, wider and higher fingers have improved efficiency compared to fingers of 20μm wide and 1.5μm high, which is related to a higher fill factor.
ISSN:0038-092X
1471-1257
DOI:10.1016/j.solener.2016.12.050