Sharp Corp. has developed a new single-crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cell that it will begin mass producing at an annual production capacity of 200 MW within fiscal year 2010. Manufacturing will take place at Sharp's plant in Sakai City, Osaka prefecture, Japan.
This solar cell features high conversion efficiency through a back-contact structure (electrodes are connected on the back side), which eliminates the need for electrodes to be set on the front side, the company says. This new structure increases the light-receiving area on the front side's surface.
In addition, Sharp developed a new alignment technology that is designed to reduce the connection resistance between adjacent cells.
SOURCE: Sharp Corp.
