A. Glass Cover Plate: The cover plate is used to protect the cells from the elements. This should be kept clean in order to achieve maximum efficiency.
B. Antireflective coating: Silicon is a highly reflective material so an antireflective coating is used to reduce the losses due to reflection.
C. Contact Grid: The electricity generated by the silicon needs to be able to flow to the terminals. To help with this a grid of wire is placed on top of the silicon so that the electricity can flow through the low resistance wire instead of the silicon. A grid must be used so that most of the silicon is left exposed to the light.
D. Silicon Layers: Silicon is a semiconductor material that is used to convert energy from the sun into electricity that can be used to power our homes. The silicon is the part of the solar cell that does the work. There are two layers of silicon, each of which have slightly different properties in order to generate electricity.
E. As for D.
F. Bottom Contact: This layer works the same as the contact grid that is placed above the silicon layers. It is used to help the electricity flow to the terminals. Since the bottom of the silicon not have to be exposed to the light, the bottom contact can cover the entire surface of the silicon.

| 01.01.2009 | Read more | Print |