Soitec recently announced the industry’s first four-junction solar cell device, which works under concentrated sunlight—putting the company on the solar energy industry’s technology roadmap at a world-class level of an outstanding 43.6% efficiency. Confirmed by the Fraunhofer ISE Calibration Laboratory, this technology was made possible through strong collaboration between solar cell device and epitaxial growth centers of expertise, combined with Soitec’s decades-long leadership in substrate-bonding and layer-transfer technologies. This measurement was achieved at a concentration level of 319 (319 suns). The new cell has demonstrated more than 43 percent energy-generating efficiency over a concentration range between 250 and 500.

The four-junction cell uses two new, dual-junction sub cells grown on different III-V compound materials, which allows optimal band-gap combinations tailored to capture a broader range of the solar spectrum. This maximizes energy-generating efficiency. Soitec’s innovative cell is designed to increase the conversion efficiency of commercial CPV systems to the highest level achieved by any PV technology to date.

Soitec

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