Soitec, a French maker of semiconductor materials for the electronics and energy industries, has announced a four-junction solar cell for use in concentrator PV arrays. The company says its four-junction solar cell has achieved a peak efficiency of 43.6% at a concentration level of 319 suns.
The new cell was developed in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems and the Helmholtz-Zentrum für Materialien und Energie, both of Germany. CEA-Leti, France's research institute for electronics and information technologies, also participated in the project.Â
André-Jacques Auberton-Hervé, CEO of Soitec, says the development represents a major proof-of-concept milestone in the company's goal of demonstrating a concentrated solar cell with 50% efficiency by 2015.
