IMEC presented a large-area solar cell with a conversion efficiency of 18.4% at the European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference in Hamburg, Germany. The process created by IMEC proved to be industrially viable in comparison to the standard i-Perc — the solar cell from IMEC features a shallow emitter and advanced front metallization using copper plating, allowing for positive results that were achieved on large-area cells.

Enhanced blue response is a result of the shallow emitter, and offers higher conversion efficiency than a standard emitter. A novel metallization stack added to local openings in the anti-reflective coating is a special feature of the front contacts.

"Using copper instead of silver adds to the sustainability of solar cell production. IMEC was able to do this because it has extensive experience with copper plating in silicon. A similar efficiency result was obtained with screen printed contacts, but the long-term sustainability and low-cost potential Cu-based contacting solutions and the fact that this was a first result obtained without dedicated fine-tuning makes this result particularly encouraging," said Dr. Joachim John, team manager at IMEC.