Record amorphous silicon single-junction photovoltaic module with 9.1% stabilized conversion efficiency on 1.43 m²

Abstract

Providing two-thirds of the total stabilized power of thin-film tandem MICROMORPHTM technology, the amorphous junction remains a key element in the quest for higher efficiencies. This paper reports and summarizes a considerable work to achieve a record large-area amorphous silicon single-junction photovoltaic module. New hardware has been developed and known process steps have been accurately tuned and combined with new features of cell design. Effort was focused on the deposition of high-quality and low-defect a-Si:H layers that has promoted an improved device stability and resistance against light induced degradation. Efficient light management has been used, and module design has been revised. The word-record performance reported in this paper for a large-area (1.43 m2) stabilized module conversion efficiency (total area) was measured and certified by Swiss PV Module Test Center to be 9.1%. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.