Back Cover: Thin macroporous silicon heterojunction solar cells (Phys. Status Solidi RRL 5/2012)

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The crystalline silicon wafer currently accounts for 40% of the photovoltaic module cost. Kerf-less wafering technologies for generating thin wafers could significantly reduce the silicon material consumption. The electrochemical separation of textured thin macroporous silicon layers from crystalline silicon wafers is a candidate for cost-effective thin wafer production. In their Letter on pp. 187–189, Ernst et al. report on the first successful demonstration of a 33 μm thick free-standing macroporous silicon solar cell. This cell achieves an energy conversion efficiency of 7.2%. One key challenge solved in this work is the avoidance of shunting despite the through-going pores.