Recent progress on transfer-Si solar cells at ipe Stuttgart

This work reports first results on flexible crystalline thin film Si solar cells prepared by transferring single crystalline Si films onto transparent plastic foils. Despite the high absorbance of the plastic superstrates, our very first cells of 4 cm/sup 2/ size show AM 1.5G efficiencies above 14%, for cell thicknesses of 40 /spl mu/m. For cells transferred behind glass superstrates, we have brought the Si-transfer technique to cell efficiencies above 16%. As a new market for flexible solar cells, we identify solar cells integrated into clothing, for the supply of personal electronics such as personal digital assistants, intelligent wrist watches, radios, compact disc players, mobile phones, and other consumer electronics. Here, we report first results on so-called clothing integrated photovoltaics (ipv) of the ipe Stuttgart.