High-efficiency Si solar cells by beam processing

Utilizing two recently developed beam processing techniques, i.e., gas discharge implantation and XeCl excimer laser annealing, p-n junction silicon solar cells with total area (∼2 cm2) AM1 efficiencies as high as 16.5% have been made. These cells are of a particularly simple structure, fabricated without any sophisticated processing steps, and subjected to no high-temperature treatment.