Using pulsed thermal processing, low-cost thin-film solar cells could see efficiency gains of up to 50 percent, increasing from their current level of about 8 percent to 12 percent. The trick is in using millisecond bursts of 12 megawatts available from the radiant high-density plasma arc lamp at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. While conventional single-crystal silicon solar cells can approach efficiencies of 18 percent, they are very expensive, said Ron Ott, ORNL's program manager for solar energy technologies. Through this effort, funded by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development program, researchers showed they can inexpensively alter the three-layer material to create a structure with fewer defects that can lead to higher efficiencies.
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