Progress in Apollo® technology

Author

Cunningham, Daniel W. ; Frederick, M. ; Gittings, B. ; Grammond, L. ; Harrer, S. ; Intagliata, J. ; O´Connor, N. ; Rubcich, M. ; Skinner, D. ; Veluchamy, P.

Author_Institution

BP Solar, Fairfield, CA, USA

fYear

2002

fDate

19-24 May 2002

Firstpage

559

Lastpage

562

Abstract

This paper describes the work performed at BP Solar in Fairfield California on scaling its Apoll®, CdTe technology from 0.09m² to 0.94 m². The paper highlights the efforts and progress in CdS window layer optimization and characterization of CdTe layer, which enabled BP Solar to maintain a high quality device on very large substrates. The effect of tin oxide sheet resistance, CdS absorption, and CdTe grain size are all discussed. Through this work, the aperture area efficiency increased from approximately 6% to 11%. Also, BP Solar set up two beta sites in order to test the outdoor performance of the modules. BP Solar performed internal light soaking and worked closely with IEC (UOD) where cells were stressed under extreme conditions.

Keywords

II-VI semiconductors; cadmium compounds; grain size; semiconductor device measurement; solar cells; Apollo® technology; CdS absorption; CdS window layer optimization; CdTe grain size; CdTe technology; CdTe-CdS; light soaking; sheet resistance; Absorption; Apertures; Chemical technology; Commercialization; Grain boundaries; Grain size; Performance analysis; Substrates; Tin; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2002. Conference Record of the Twenty-Ninth IEEE

ISSN

1060-8371

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7471-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.2002.1190626

Filename

1190626