Silicon, because of its abundant nature (sand) and widespread use in the manufacture of semiconductor devices such as computer chips, quickly became the material of choice for solar cells. Over the last several decades, crystalline silicon solar cell technology has become the “workhorse” technology for the majority of PV applications. However, despite its good performance and well-understood manufacturing processes, traditional crystalline silicon solar cell technology remains costly. Subsequently, traditional flat-plate PV systems, which one can see on many rooftops, parking structures, and other facilities, remain costly as well.

The industry's design focus has been to reduce the PV system cost "culprit"--the silicon solar cell. Most approaches strive to reduce the silicon material content, many of which involve reducing the thickness of the cells themselves by using very thin films (like paints) of the material.

Amonix, because of its extensive background in high-tech semiconductor design and manufacturing, pursued a highly cost-effective approach which involves reducing the area of cell material required to generate a given amount of electricity.  This is the high-concentration concept. Amonix has been successful in reducing the silicon cell area by over 500 times with its High-Concentration Photovoltaic (HCPV) system and MegaModule™ design.

The Cell:  The concept of concentrating sunlight onto a solar cell had been studied for many years; however, one of its main obstacles was that solar cells became very inefficient when exposed to the extreme conditions associated with concentrated sunlight. In 1989, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the research arm for several hundred domestic utility companies, approached Amonix to solve the solar cell stabilization problem. Using its extensive semiconductor background, Amonix was successful at stabilizing a highly efficient silicon solar cell.  Further efforts led to the development of a back-junction point-contact silicon solar cell which is the cornerstone of Amonix's HCPV system. 

This cell has many superior design attributes including the following:

• High Efficiency: Amonix has produced the world's most efficient silicon solar cell (27.6% efficiency), also it was manufactured in a commercial environment (an industry first). This performance has been measured and documented by CalLab at the Fraunhofer Institute, Germany.

• High Power Capability:   The Amonix high-concentration silicon solar cell has the ability to generate more power per unit of area than other silicon solar cells.

• Both Electrodes on the Same Side:  The Amonix high-concentration silicon solar cell has both electrodes on the same side which allows automated surface mounted robotic assembly and maximum capture of the sun's energy.

• Proprietary Manufacturing Processes:  The Amonix high-concentration silicon solar cell has been designed to allow for high-volume production specifically adaptable to large-volume microelectronic factories for low-cost manufacturing.

Concentration: Ordinary, one-sun flat-plate solar modules have their entire sun-receiving surface covered with costly silicon solar cells and are positioned at a fixed tilt to the sun. In contrast, Amonix's systems offer significant cost savings by using inexpensive flat, plastic Fresnel lenses as an intermediary between the sun and the cell. These magnifying lenses focus and concentrate sunlight approximately 500 times onto a relatively small cell area and operate similarly to the glass magnifying lenses we used to burn things with as children.   Through concentration, the required silicon cell area needed for a given amount of electricity is reduced by an amount approximating its concentration ratio (500 times). In effect, a low cost plastic concentrator lens is being substituted for relatively expensive silicon.

In order to optimize performance, concentrating systems must track the sun to absorb its direct normal light (DNI).  Amonix has developed a proprietary hydraulically-driven tracker to accomplish this.  Because Amonix's systems actively track the sun to concentrate sunlight onto the cell, they maximize energy production throughout the day. Field results indicate that approximately 30% more energy is captured by Amonix's systems than with fixed, one-sun systems. Amonix’s effective implementation of concentration and tracking offers customers the possibility of the lowest levelized cost (cents/kWh) of any solar generated electricity.