Advances in CdTe R&D at NREL

This paper summarizes the following R&D accomplishments at National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL): (1) Developed several novel materials and world-record high-efficiency CdTe solar cell, (2) Developed "one heat-up step" manufacturing processes, and (3) Demonstrated 13.9% transparent CdTe cell and 15.3% CdTe/CIS polycrystalline tandem solar cell. Cadmium telluride has been well recognized as a promising photovoltaic material for thin-film solar cells because of its near-optimum bandgap of ~1.5 eV and its high absorption coefficient. Impressive results have been achieved in the past few years for polycrystalline CdTe thin-film solar cells at NREL. In this paper, we summarize some recent R&D activities at NREL