Why is topcon solar cell manufacturers Better?

In the captivating and rapidly evolving world of solar technology, two heavyweights stand out: TOPCON and MonoPerc solar panels. Both herald a new dawn in sustainable energy, yet they chart distinct paths in solar innovation. This blog delves into the heart of these solar titans, unraveling the technical brilliance and real-world implications of TOPCON panels while contrasting them with the renowned MonoPerc technology. Here, we'll explore the cutting-edge features, efficiency benchmarks, and practical benefits of each, guiding you through a comprehensive comparison of TOPCON vs MonoPerc. Whether you're a solar enthusiast, a green-energy investor, or simply intrigued by the latest advancements in solar solutions, this exploration offers enlightening insights into these two pivotal technologies shaping the future of solar energy. Join us as we embark on this illuminating journey, navigating the nuances and breakthroughs of TOPCON and MonoPerc solar panels.

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Understanding TOPCON Technology: A New Era in Solar Efficiency

TOPCON, standing for Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact, represents a significant leap in solar panel technology. At its core, TOPCON technology is about enhancing the efficiency and longevity of solar cells. This is achieved through a sophisticated manufacturing process that introduces a thin layer of oxide between the silicon substrate and a subsequent layer of polysilicon. This innovative structure significantly reduces electron recombination, a common challenge in solar cells, thereby increasing the overall efficiency of the solar panel.

The brilliance of TOPCON technology lies in its ability to combine the benefits of both traditional and advanced solar technologies. Unlike standard solar cells, TOPCON cells incorporate an extra layer of passivation, which acts as a barrier, reducing surface recombination. This extra layer also helps in protecting the silicon cell, contributing to the panel's durability and long-term performance. Moreover, TOPCON cells exhibit lower temperature coefficients compared to conventional panels, meaning they perform better under high temperature conditions, a common scenario in many solar installations.

Another standout feature of TOPCON technology is its adaptability with existing manufacturing processes. It doesn't require a complete overhaul of current production lines, making it a cost-effective upgrade for solar panel manufacturers. This aspect is crucial in accelerating the adoption of more efficient solar technologies without significant increases in production costs.

In terms of efficiency, TOPCON solar panels are setting new benchmarks. They are known for their high-efficiency ratings, often surpassing 22%, which is significantly higher than many traditional solar panels on the market. This high efficiency means more energy can be generated from the same surface area, a critical factor in both residential and commercial solar applications where space can be a limiting factor.

Finally, the environmental impact of TOPCON technology cannot be overstated. By enhancing the efficiency of solar panels, TOPCON contributes to a more effective conversion of solar energy, leading to a reduction in overall carbon footprint. It embodies the commitment to not only harnessing solar energy but doing so in the most efficient and environmentally friendly way possible.

MonoPERC vs TOPCON: A Comparative Analysis

When it comes to the cutting-edge world of solar technology, MonoPERC and TOPCON stand as two of the most talked-about advancements. Both bring unique strengths to the table, but understanding their differences is key to discerning which might be the right choice for specific solar energy needs.

MonoPERC Technology: The Efficiency Enhancer

MonoPERC, short for Monocrystalline Passivated Emitter and Rear Cell, is a technology that builds upon traditional monocrystalline solar panels. The primary innovation in MonoPERC cells is the addition of a passivation layer at the rear of the cell. This layer serves two critical functions: it reflects light back into the cell for a second chance at absorption, and it provides a passivation effect, reducing electron recombination. The result is a notable increase in efficiency, particularly in low-light conditions, compared to standard monocrystalline cells.

Key Benefits of MonoPERC:

1. Improved Efficiency: Especially effective in low-light conditions, such as on cloudy days or in mornings/evenings.

2. Space Optimization: Higher efficiency means more power per square foot, making them ideal for space-constrained applications.

3. Better Temperature Coefficient: Performs relatively better in high-temperature environments compared to traditional panels.

TOPCON Technology: The Next Generation Leap

TOPCON stands apart with its advanced approach to solar cell design. By integrating a thin oxide layer and a polysilicon layer on the rear of the cell, TOPCON significantly reduces surface recombination and enhances efficiency. This technology represents a step forward in harnessing solar energy more effectively, particularly under diverse environmental conditions.

Key Benefits of TOPCON:

1. Superior Efficiency: Regularly exceeds 22% efficiency, setting new standards in solar panel performance.

2. Enhanced Durability: The additional layers in TOPCON cells offer better protection, contributing to the longevity of the panels.

3. Cost-Effective Adaptation: Can be integrated into existing production lines, making it a practical upgrade for manufacturers.

Comparative Overview

• Efficiency: While both technologies offer higher efficiency than traditional panels, TOPCON generally edges out MonoPERC in this area.

• Manufacturing Complexity: MonoPERC maintains a simpler manufacturing process compared to TOPCON, which might affect overall panel costs.

• Temperature Performance: Both technologies perform well in high temperatures, but TOPCON's lower temperature coefficient gives it a slight edge.

• Long-Term Durability: The advanced layering in TOPCON panels may offer better long-term durability and resistance to environmental factors.

The choice between MonoPERC and TOPCON technology boils down to specific needs and priorities. MonoPERC offers a significant upgrade over traditional panels with its enhanced low-light performance and efficiency gains. Meanwhile, TOPCON represents a more futuristic approach, pushing the boundaries of solar efficiency and durability. Both are stellar choices in the quest for sustainable, efficient solar energy, but their nuanced differences cater to varied applications and preferences in the solar market.

Bigwit Energy: Your Gateway to Advanced TOPCON Solar Panels

Bigwit Energy, a name synonymous with cutting-edge renewable energy solutions, is thrilled to bring the latest in solar technology to its customers: TOPCON solar panels. As a leading provider in the solar energy market, Bigwit Energy is committed to sourcing and offering the most advanced and efficient solar technologies available, and TOPCON panels are a testament to this commitment.

Harnessing the Power of TOPCON Technology

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With TOPCON's superior efficiency rates, often exceeding 22%, these panels represent the pinnacle of solar energy innovation. For Bigwit Energy's customers, this means access to some of the most efficient solar panels on the market, designed to maximize energy production even in limited spaces. This efficiency is more than a metric; it's a gateway to higher energy independence and reduced utility costs.

Why Choose Bigwit Energy for Your TOPCON Solar Needs?

1. Unmatched Product Selection: Bigwit Energy prides itself on its meticulous selection process, ensuring that only the best TOPCON panels are included in their offerings. This means customers have access to top-tier solar technology known for its efficiency and reliability.

2. Sustainability as a Service: By offering TOPCON panels, Bigwit Energy is helping customers make a significant impact on their carbon footprint. This move aligns with the global shift towards sustainable energy solutions, making every installation a step towards a greener future.

3. Customer-Focused Expertise: Known for its expertise in the solar sector, Bigwit Energy provides comprehensive guidance and support, from helping customers choose the right TOPCON panels to ensuring smooth installation and after-sales service.

4. Affordability Meets Quality: In its mission to make sustainable energy accessible, Bigwit Energy ensures that these high-efficiency TOPCON panels are offered at competitive prices, without compromising on quality.

5. Tailored Solutions: Understanding that each customer's energy needs are unique, Bigwit Energy offers customized solutions, ensuring that the benefits of TOPCON technology are fully leveraged in every installation.

As a provider, Bigwit Energy is not just offering a product; it's offering a partnership in the journey towards sustainable energy. For those ready to embrace the future of solar technology, Bigwit Energy&#;s range of TOPCON solar panels opens up new possibilities for efficiency, sustainability, and energy independence. Join hands with Bigwit Energy and step into a brighter, cleaner future powered by advanced solar technology.

Solar cell technology used to manufacture photovoltaic (PV) modules is constantly evolving as new, more advanced and more efficient technologies are developed. Tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar cell technology is a new development with the potential to replace passivated emitter and rear contact (PERC) and high-efficiency passivated emitter, rear totally-diffused (PERT) solar panels.

TOPCon solar cells represent an upgraded and more efficient technology compared to PERC/PERT solar cells, featuring a highly similar structure.

In this article, we will explain important details on this technology, going from the basics, structure and manufacturing, comparison against other popular technologies in the solar industry, advantages and disadvantages, and more.

Tiger Neo bifacial TOPCon solar panel - Source: Jinko Solar

TOPCon solar cell technology: Understanding the basics

TOPCon solar cell technology is one of the latest trends in the solar industry, developed as an upgraded and more advanced version of the PERC/PERT technology. One of the main advantages of TOPCon solar cells is that the structure is only slightly different from PERC/PERT solar cells, meaning that manufacturers can use practically the same production line with a few improvements to produce TOPCon solar cells.

TOPCon solar cell technology was first introduced as a concept in by the Fraunhofer ISE German PV research institute. The project designed to develop this technology took place from to , but it was not until that companies like Trina Solar scaled it to production. As TOPCon solar cell technology proved as a successful upgrade from PERC solar cells, many other companies including LONGi Solar, Suntech, Canadian Solar, and many others got interested in it.

The main setback of this new technology compared to PERC/PERT is that the TOPCon solar cells require a larger amount of silver (Ag) for production. This silver increase translates into a higher manufacturing price; however, new developments might prove successful in reducing the required amount of silver, while still delivering similar or even higher efficiencies and reducing production costs.

Structure and manufacturing of TOPCon solar cells

TOPCon solar cell technology features a similar structure and manufacturing process to PERC solar cells, featuring only a few additional steps. In this section, we explain how both of these work:

Structure of the TOPCon solar cell

TOPCon solar cells can be manufactured as n-type or p-type solar cells, but the n-type variation has proven to be more efficient and resistant to impurities. Because TOPCon solar cells are an upgrade from PERC/PERT solar cells, it is important to understand the structure of this new technology.

PERT solar cells are manufactured with an n-type crystalline silicon (c-Si) bulk layer because of its higher surface quality and it is coupled with a p+ emitter layer to create the p-n junction. The emitter layer is covered with an aluminum oxide (Al2O3) passivating layer and topped with a silicon nitride (SiNx) coating for its anti-reflecting properties. PERC solar cells replace the absorber layer with a p-type bulk layer and an n+ emitter for the p-n junction.

The lower part of the bulk region is doped with phosphorous to create the back surface field, and it is then coated with SiNx similar to the top of the cell. Both the top and bottom of the solar cell are equipped with silver (Ag) or aluminum (Al) contacts to close the circuit when the cell is being connected to the load or other cells at the time of manufacturing the PERC/PERT solar panel.

 TOPCon solar cell structure - Source: Scholarly Community Encyclopedia

The PERC/PERT solar cell structure has proven to be quite efficient since it was introduced to the market and implemented to manufacture PV modules, but researchers found ways to improve it and therefore created the TOPCon solar cell.

The TOPCon solar cell structure takes the base structure of the PERT solar cell but includes an ultra-thin silicon dioxide (SiO2) layer working as the tunnel oxide layer and replaces the back surface field layer with phosphorous-doped polycrystalline silicon (n+ Poly-Si) layer. These modifications have improved the efficiency by reducing the recombination process thanks to the passivation in the added layers.

Manufacture of a TOPCon solar cell

One of the best things about TOPCon solar cell technology is that the manufacturing process is so similar to that of PERT solar cells that manufacturers will only have to make a little investment to upgrade their existing production line. Most of the manufacturing equipment can remain the same. This makes TOPCon solar cells an excellent investment for PERC/PERT PV module manufacturers already in the market.

1. The first step to manufacturing a TOPCon solar cell is chemically texturing the wafer surface by using a potassium hydroxide (KOH) to remove saw damage from the cutting process of the c-Si wafer.
2. After cleaning the wafer, the diffusion method is used to form the emitter on the front side of the cell by applying a boron tribromide (BBr3) gas, but then the backside emitter is removed by applying a nitric acid and hydrofluoric acid (HF/HNO3) solution, and the ultra-thin oxide layer is produced through wet chemical dipping.
3. To grow the n+ Poly-Si layer, a phosphorous-doped amorphous silicon (n-a-Si:H) layer is grown through a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) process. This is then transformed into the n+ Poly-Si layer after annealing at 900ºC.
4. The solar cell is cleaned further, and the passivation and coating layers are applied through PECVD.
5. Finally, the Ag/Al contacts are applied through screen printing for the metallization using a quick-firing method with a maximum temperature of 760ºC.

After the TOPCon solar cells are manufactured, I-V solar cell curve characterizations are performed to evaluate their performance.

There are only a few additional steps required to manufacture a TOPCon solar cell instead of the PERT solar cell, making this new technology financially attractive for the solar industry.

How do TOPCon solar cells compare against the most popular PV technology in the market?

Power degradation of TOPCon cell over its 30-Year lifespan - Source: Jinko Solar

TOPCon solar cell technology is quite promising, having the potential to rapidly grow within the solar industry. When considering a new rising technology like this one, it is important to analyze it against other popular PV technologies in the market. In this case, we will compare TOPCon solar cell technology against PERC and heterojunction (HJT) solar cell technologies.

Highest EfficiencyTemperature CoefficientBifaciality FactorMarket ShareTOPCon26.10%<0.3%/ºC85%8% ()PERC24.50%<0.4%/ºC70%75% ()HJT26.56%0.21%/ºC92%2.5% ()

PERC solar cell technology currently sits in the first place, featuring the highest market share in the solar industry at 75%, while HJT solar cell technology started to become adopted in , its market share was only 2.5% by . TOPCon, which is barely present in the market, already represents 8% of the PV market, but it might start to grow in as major manufacturers switch from PERC/PERT to TOPCon.

Considering the technical specs, PERC technology is left behind by both HJT and TOPCon solar cell technologies. While PERC features a 24.5% efficiency and 70% bifaciality factor, TOPCon takes the efficiency to 26.1% and the bifaciality factor to 85%, while HJT goes even further with an efficiency of 26.56% and bifaciality factor of 92%. The temperature coefficient for PERC solar cells is worse when compared to TOPCon with its 0.3%/ºC, while HJT solar cells go even lower than that to 0.21%/ºC.

HJT solar cells might look quite promising, but there are major setbacks to this technology because of the higher production cost for solar cells and the incompatible production line with current technologies. This is where TOPCon solar cells have a head start since the required production line for TOPCon solar cells is practically the same as PERC/PERT and the cost is also quite similar.

Considering the similarity between the technical specifications of HJT and TOPCon solar cells, but factoring in the setbacks of HJT technology, it is understandable why major manufacturers like Trina Solar, Jinko Solar, LONGi, and others, are opting for TOPCon solar cells instead of HJT.

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Advantages & disadvantages of TOPCon solar cells

TOPCon solar cells feature a few differences from PERC/PERT solar cells but greatly improve performance. In this section, we present the advantages and disadvantages of TOPCon solar cells.

Advantages

Little capital investments for PERC/PERT manufacturers

TOPCon solar cell technology is an upgrade of PERC/PERT solar cells, featuring two additional steps. This little difference between both technologies, allows manufacturers of PERC and PERT solar cells to upgrade to TOPCon by adding only a few pieces of equipment for a little investment.

Higher efficiency reported by several manufacturers

One of the main features of TOPCon solar panels is the higher efficiency achieved. According to the Fraunhofer ISE institute, efficiencies can go beyond 25%. This has already been proved by PV manufacturers like LONGi, Jinko Solar, and others, with a high efficiency of 26.1%.

Better performance as a result of a lower temperature coefficient

Traditional PV modules feature a temperature coefficient of 0.4%/&#;-0.5%/&#;, while PERC PV modules perform better by taking that coefficient slightly under the 0.4%/&#; frame. TOPCon PV modules manufactured by Jinko Solar, on the other hand, have already proven to take the temperature coefficient to less than 0.3%/&#;, highly improving their performance in many extreme weather scenarios.

15% higher bifacial factor

The bifacial factor for PERC PV modules has been determined on average to be at around 70%. TOPCon solar panels, on the other hand, have proven to take the bifacial factor up to 85%. This increased bifacial factor can increase power gains by as much as 2%.

Disadvantages

Several challenges in the manufacturing process

TOPCon solar cell technology is still facing several challenges in the manufacturing process. Some of these include different opinions on the best technique for boron deposition, different requirements for clean room conditions that have to be met, and the inability of the current selective emitter to apply to the TOPCon front emitter. For the solar industry to advance with TOPCon, these issues should be addressed.

There is little data about mass production, limiting the roadmap for the future

Different companies upgrading their PERC/PERT lines of production to TOPCon solar cells have taken different routes, but since there is limited mass production, the roadmap for this technology is still under development. As major companies like Trina Solar, LONGi, and others start to tackle major problems and find optimal ways to produce TOPCon solar cells, the roadmap will become clearer.

Higher silver requirement equals higher price

One of the major issues of TOPCon solar cells is a higher requirement of silver to print the contacts on the cell. The ideal option to reduce costs would be to increase efficiency while maintaining current costs. Lowering the costs for this technology is imperative to hit the market at reasonable prices.

Market trends featuring TOPCon solar cells

The market trends have shifted in the last decade from back surface fields (BSF) solar panels to PERC solar cell technology, and now it seems to be shifting to TOPCon solar panels. Initially, BSF solar panels ruled the market, but manufacturers began the adoption of PERC solar cell technology and the market share grew until hitting 40% in , and almost 75% by . Since TOPCon solar cell technology is a cost-efficient upgrade from PERC/PERT solar cells, this new technology may soon rule the market.

In , LONGi announced a new record for high-efficiency n-type solar panels at 25.21% featuring TOPCon solar cell technology. Little after that, Jinko Solar announced an even higher efficiency record at 25.4%. In , Trina Solar broke the record with an efficiency of 25.5%, while Canadian Solar also reached a high efficiency of 25.0% that same year. By the end of , Jinko Solar broke the record two times in a row, first reaching 25.7% and then 26.1%.

Many PV manufacturers will start to fill the market with TOPCon solar panels as they design and release their products. LONGi launched its bifacial TOPCon solar panels at the SNEC , and Suntech released its Ultra VPro Series in , but it seems that will be the year when most PV manufacturers release their products. Jinko Solar unveiled three different TOPCon solar panel variants with a  power rate going from 445W to 635W, Canadian Solar is also hitting the market with solar panels that go up to 690W, and Trina Solar unveiled its new TOPCon solar panels that go up to 445W.

These are only some of the largest manufacturers, but as the technology advances, other major companies in the solar industry will also release TOPCon solar panels. There is a considerable possibility that as TOPCon solar cell technology becomes more popular, PERC solar panels will start to give way to TOPCon to increase its market share and presence in the industry.

Present and future of TOPCon solar cells

TOPCon solar cell technology is a revolutionizing product that upgrades the design of the PERC/PERT solar panels.

This technology has already proven its worth by reaching efficiencies that approach the Shockley-Queisser limit for single p-n junction solar cells and deliver a better performance in general.

The solar industry is starting to get acquainted with TOPCon solar cell technology. LONGi already launched its bifacial modules in , but most manufacturers will be releasing their high-efficiency TOPCon solar panels from the second (Q2) to the last quarter (Q4) of .

It is possible that at first, TOPCon solar cell technology will have slightly more expensive costs than PERC/PERT solar panels, but analysts expect that the cost for TOPCon solar panels will fall lower than the current cost of PERC solar cell technology.

The path for TOPCon solar cell technology is also not entirely free from competition. There are other technologies featuring an interesting great potential to go against this newly upgraded technology, including HJT as it is further developed, and interdigitated back-contacted (IBC) solar cell technology.

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