A monolithic series-connected solar cell on an organic polymer film substrate

Abstract A new fabrication process of a monolithic series-connected a-Si:H solar cell was investigated. In this process, an Al/SS/a-Si:H/ITO solar cell structure is produced on an organic polymer film substrate by a roll-to-roll sputtering method and a roll-to-roll GD-CVD method. A conversion efficiency of 10.1% was obtained in the small area cell (1.2 cm 2 ). To make a large size monolithic series-connected solar cell, this cell on the film substrate is divided into some unit cells by a combination of YAG laser scribing and screen printing of an organic electrical insulation layer and then each unit cell is inter-connected in series by screen printing of a grid electrode and bonding by the YAG laser. So far, a practical conversion efficiency of 5.5% was obtained in a 20 × 60 cm monolithic series-connected cell on a poly(ethylene terephtalate) (PET) substrate. Various types of modules (flexible, lightweight) were obtained by laminating with another PET film, a polycarbonate sheet, or a glass sheet.