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How did Gerald Pearson, Daryl Chapin, and Calvin Fuller improve silicon solar cell efficiency in 1954?

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Diagram of a solar cell showing labeled layers, including a front electrical contact grid, antireflection layer, absorber layer, back junction layer, and back electrical contact layer, with arrows indicating light entering and terminals connecting to a circuit. — solar cell A commonly used solar cell structure. In many such cells, the absorber layer and the back junction layer are both made of the same material.

In 1954, researchers Gerald Pearson, Daryl Chapin, and Calvin Fuller significantly improved the efficiency of silicon solar cells by leveraging the rapid commercialization of silicon technology originally developed for the transistor.1

While early solar cells made of materials like selenium and copper oxide struggled with energy-conversion efficiencies of less than 1 percent, the work of these Bell Laboratories scientists resulted in a device capable of 6 percent efficiency in direct sunlight. This breakthrough built upon the foundational development of the silicon solar cell by Russell Ohl in 1941. By utilizing advanced fabrication techniques refined for electronics, the team successfully demonstrated that silicon could be a viable, high-efficiency medium for harnessing solar energy.12