Featured in As simple as IBC – 03-2023

As simple as IBC

The search for ever higher conversion efficiency has driven solar researchers to focus on back-contact cell approaches, and efforts to devise more cost-effective manufacturing are bringing technologies such as interdigitated back contact (IBC) solar into the mainstream, as Mark Hutchins reports.

By

Mark Hutchins

09 Mar 2023

Modules featuring ISC Konstanz’s Zebra cells are installed on a ferry that takes passengers across Lake Constance in southern Germany. | Photo: ISC Konstanz

IBC solar cells were conceived in the 1970s and the idea behind them is simple: Move all contacts, metallization, and other inner workings of the cell to the rear side, leaving the front, active layer unobstructed and open to more sunlight.That approach ensures IBC, and other back-contact type devices, can push closer to the practical …

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