Silicor Materials produced 20% PERC mono cells

Silicor Materials Inc said today it has produced p-type mono PERC (Passivated Emitter Rear Contact) cells at about 20% efficiency using its standard silicon feedstock.

The San Jose, California-headquartered company, which produces solar silicon using a novel manufacturing process aimed at lowering costs, noted that this is its first attempt at mono cell production. "These results show the power of our process to produce silicon of such high quality that even the demands of a mono PERC cell architecture are well within reach," said chief technical officer Alain Turenne.

A small mono boule was grown and wafered at Fraunhofer CSP's lab for crystallisation technology in Germany and then converted into cells by a manufacturing partner, Silicor Materials explained. According to it, the result demonstrates that its feedstock can be used to produce mono-crystals using the Czochralski method, as well as high-efficiency monocrystalline solar cells.

"We will continue our work with perfecting the manner in which our material is integrated into mono wafer manufacturing and expect even better results in the future," chief executive Terry Jester said, adding that Silicor Materials has experience in using its material in multi-crystalline applications.

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