Behind Our Cell Design
The Intersection of High Efficiency and Low Cost
Suniva employs the latest innovations in cell processing techniques to attain significantly higher cell efficiencies than today's standard solar technology, while achieving some of the industry's lowest costs. The company's proprietary technology and patents represent nearly two decades of silicon PV experience, exclusively licensed from Georgia Tech's University Center of Excellence in Photovoltaics (UCEP), led by Dr. Ajeet Rohatgi. Suniva uses its proprietary approach to optimize cell processing parameters based upon keen modeling insights, intimate materials knowledge and deep process know-how. We refer to our approach as "integrated cell design and development" ("ICEDD").
Suniva's Technology Roadmap focuses on continuing to achieve superior cell performance and efficiency, bringing 17+% efficient cells to approximately 20% efficient cells, at industry-leading low cost. This is a nearly 19% improvement in the state-of-the-art of what is typically considered a mature technology. Suniva's differentiator is gaining these efficiency improvements using our low-cost processing techniques. Currently, Suniva is producing record-setting 20%+ in the lab, and the world's highest commercially available cell efficiency in full-scale production, at 18.2%+.
Suniva plans to implement three improvements in cell design to achieve our efficiency goals:
- An improved set of screen-printed contacts. While screen-printing of solar cell gridlines is now a standard practice in the industry, Suniva has adjusted processing parameters and paste to improve contact performance.
- An improved high sheet-resistance emitter to increase response from the blue end of the solar spectrum (where photons are more energetic) and raise the current level of the device.
- An improved dielectric passivation layer to minimize recombination of electrons with holes and reflect light for a second pass through the active layer. By improving this passivation, fewer photogenerated carriers are lost at the surfaces and the power output of the cell is increased.
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Science and Research
