page_title: Thin-film solar cell
section_title: Efficiencies
hierarchical_section_title: Thin-film solar cell / Efficiencies
caption_attribution_description: English: Conversion efficiencies of best research solar cells worldwide for various photovoltaic technologies since 1976. &#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; Multi-junction cells: Concentrator PV, Solar panels on spacecraft, Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) &#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; Crystalline Si Cells: Single crystal, Multicrystalline &#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; Thin-Film Technologies: CdTe, CIGS, Amorphous Si &#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; Emerging PV: Dye-sensitized solar cells, Perovskite solar cells, Organic solar cells, CZTSSe, Quantum dot solar cells
context_page_description: A thin-film solar cell is a second generation solar cell that is made by depositing one or more thin layers, or thin film of photovoltaic material on a substrate, such as glass, plastic or metal. Thin-film solar cells are commercially used in several technologies, including cadmium telluride, copper indium gallium diselenide, and amorphous thin-film silicon.
  Film thickness varies from a few nanometers to tens of micrometers, much thinner than thin-film's rival technology, the conventional, first-generation crystalline silicon solar cell, that uses wafers of up to 200 µm thick. This allows thin film cells to be flexible, and lower in weight. It is used in building integrated photovoltaics and as semi-transparent, photovoltaic glazing material that can be laminated onto windows. Other commercial applications use rigid thin film solar panels in some of the world's largest photovoltaic power stations.
  Thin-film technology has always been cheaper but less efficient than conventional c-Si technology. However, it has significantly improved over the years.
context_section_description: The achievable efficiency of thin-film solar cells is extremely dependent on the semiconductor chosen and the growth technology.  Incremental improvements in efficiency began with the invention of the first modern silicon solar cell in 1954. By 2010 these steady improvements had resulted in modules capable of converting 12 to 18 percent of solar radiation into electricity. The improvements to efficiency have continued to accelerate in the years since 2010, as shown in the accompanying chart.
  Cells made from newer materials tend to be less efficient than bulk silicon, but are less expensive to produce. Their quantum efficiency is also lower due to reduced number of collected charge carriers per incident photon.
  The performance and potential of thin-film materials are high, reaching cell efficiencies of 12–20%; prototype module efficiencies of 7–13%; and production modules in the range of 9%.
  The thin film cell prototype with the best efficiency yields 20.4% (First Solar), comparable to the best conventional solar cell prototype efficiency of 25.6% from Panasonic.
  NREL once predicted that costs would drop below $100/m² in volume production, and could later fall below $50/m².
  A new record for thin film solar cell efficiency of 22.3% has been achieved by solar frontier   the world's largest cis solar energy provider. In joint research with the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) of Japan, Solar Frontier achieved 22.3% conversion efficiency on a 0.5 cm² cell using its CIS technology. This is an increase of 0.6 percentage points over the industry's previous thin-film record of 21.7%.
caption: Solar cell efficiencies of various cell technologies (including both single-crystal and thin film technologies) as tracked by NREL
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