Backside Contact Multijunction Solar Cells for High Concentration ApplicationsCX(s) Applied: B3.6, B5.1Date: 09/14/2010Location(s): Niles, IllinoisOffice(s): Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance
September 14, 2010
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CX(s) Applied: B3.6, B5.1
Date: 09/14/2010
Location(s): Niles, Illinois
Office(s): Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
In the Phase III project, the backside contact fabrication process will be extended to fabricate high efficiency, triple-junction, inverted-multijunction-metamorphic (IMM) epitaxial liftoff devices that are optimized for operation at high concentration. A process will be developed for attaching backside contact solar cells to submounts which will be tested in the solar concentrator test beds of three commercial concentrator companies. Microlink Devices, Inc., proposes to reduce the cost of cells by transitioning to larger diameter wafers and investing in high capacity production tools. The backside contact solar cells will also be subjected to reliability testing for system qualification. The goal is to achieve a peak efficiency of less than 44% at 500 suns. The high efficiency cells to be developed in this project would be used in concentrator photovoltaic systems for utility and commercial electricity generation.