The current record efficiency for crystalline silicon (c-Si) is 25%
for the mono-crystalline cell and 20.8% for the multi-crystalline
cell. The silicon heterostructure cell achieved recently a record of
25.6% [21]. The 25% mono-crystalline silicon record has been
achieved with a wafer-made cell, but significant advances have
been also achieved on the deposition of mono-crystalline silicon
with a record cell achieving 21.2%. Films well below 50 mm can
be produced allowing to minimize the Auger Recombination, and
therefore this technology has the potential for high efficiency and low-cost. The maximum theoretical cell efficiency for c-Si is 29%.On the practical level roughly 26% could be achieved, which is slightly above the current record cell. This could eventually lead to a commercial module efficiency of up to 24% to be achieved with a mono-crystalline thin-film material, advanced cell design and ideal use of module area. Most current commercial c-Si modules are in the efficiency range of 14–17% [22]. On the long run a shift
to the 17–24% range can be expected.