Presented herein are embodiments of a tandem solar panel subunit with 2-terminals, made from two 3-terminal cell tandems, whose top-cells are strongly current-mismatched to the Si 3-terminal bottom cell.

A solar cell for a solar cell array with one or more grid on a surface thereof, wherein electrical connections are made to the grids in a plurality of locations positioned around the solar cell; and the electrical connections extend to one or more conductors located under the solar cell. The conductors located under the solar cell are buried within a substrate, and each of the conductors comprises a low resistance conducting path that distributes current from the solar cell. The conductors are loops, U-shaped, or have only up or down pathways. The solar cell comprises a full cell that has four cropped corners and the locations are in the cropped corners.

A solar cell for a solar cell array with one or more grid on a surface thereof, wherein electrical connections are made to the grids in a plurality of locations positioned around the solar cell; and the electrical connections extend to one or more conductors located under the solar cell. The conductors located under the solar cell are buried within a substrate, and each of the conductors comprises a low resistance conducting path that distributes current from the solar cell. The conductors are loops, U-shaped, or have only up or down pathways. The solar cell comprises a full cell that has four cropped corners and the locations are in the cropped corners.

Photovoltaic module comprising a plurality of multijunction photovoltaic cells, at least one of said multijunction photovoltaic cells comprising: a first photovoltaic sub-cell extending over a first predetermined area; a second photovoltaic sub-cell provided on said first photovoltaic sub-cell and in electrical connection therewith, said second photovoltaic sub-cell extending over a second predetermined area which is smaller than said first predetermined area so as to define at least one zone in which said first photovoltaic sub-cell is uncovered by said second photovoltaic sub-cell; an electrically-insulating layer situated upon said first photovoltaic sub-cell in at least a part of said zone; and an electrically-conductive layer situated upon at least part of said electrically-insulating layer and in electrical connection with a surface of said second photovoltaic sub-cell, wherein at least one of said multijunction photovoltaic cells is electrically connected to at least one other of said multijunction photovoltaic cells by means of at least one electrical interconnector electrically connected to said electrically-conductive layer in said zone.

Tandem solar cell configurations are provided where at least one of the cells is a metal chalcogenide cell. A four-terminal tandem solar cell configuration has two electrically independent solar cells stacked on each other. A two-terminal solar cell configuration has two electrically coupled solar cells (same current through both cells) stacked on each other. Carrier selective contacts can be used to make contact to the metal chalcogenide cell (s) to alleviate the troublesome Fermi level pinning issue. Carrier-selective contacts can also remove the need to provide doping of the metal chalcogenide. Doping of the metal chalcogenide can be provided by charge transfer. These two ideas can be practiced independently or together in any combination.

Tandem solar cell configurations are provided where at least one of the cells is a metal chalcogenide cell. A four-terminal tandem solar cell configuration has two electrically independent solar cells stacked on each other. A two-terminal solar cell configuration has two electrically coupled solar cells (same current through both cells) stacked on each other. Carrier selective contacts can be used to make contact to the metal chalcogenide cell (s) to alleviate the troublesome Fermi level pinning issue. Carrier-selective contacts can also remove the need to provide doping of the metal chalcogenide. Doping of the metal chalcogenide can be provided by charge transfer. These two ideas can be practiced independently or together in any combination.

A monolithic multi-junction solar cell comprising a first III-V subcell and a second III-V subcell and a third III-V subcell and a fourth Ge subcell, wherein the subcells are stacked on top of one another in the specified order, and the first subcell forms the top subcell and a metamorphic buffer is formed between the third subcell and the fourth subcell and all subcells each have an n-doped emitter layer and a p-doped base layer and the emitter doping in the second subcell is lower than the base doping.

Device structures, apparatuses, and methods are disclosed for photovoltaic cells that may be a single-junction or multijunction solar cells, with at least a first layer comprising a group-IV semiconductor in which part of the cell comprises a second layer comprising a III-V semiconductor or group-IV semiconductor having a different composition than the group-IV semiconductor of the first layer, such that a heterostructure is formed between the first and second layers.

Device structures, apparatuses, and methods are disclosed for photovoltaic cells that may be a single-junction or multijunction solar cells, with at least a first layer comprising a group-IV semiconductor in which part of the cell comprises a second layer comprising a III-V semiconductor or group-IV semiconductor having a different composition than the group-IV semiconductor of the first layer, such that a heterostructure is formed between the first and second layers.

There is provided a multi junction photovoltaic device comprising a first sub-cell comprising a photoactive region comprising a layer of perovskite material, a second sub-cell comprising a photoactive silicon absorber. and an intermediate region disposed between and connecting the first sub-cell and the second sub-cell. The intermediate region comprises an interconnect layer, the interconnect layer comprising a two-phase material comprising elongate (i.e. filament like) silicon nanocrystals embedded in a silicon oxide matrix.