Threshold switching in solar cells and a no-scribe photovoltaic technology

We show that thin film cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cells exhibit the phenomenon of threshold switching similar to that in phase change and resistive memory. It creates a conductive filament (shunt) through the solar cell reaching the buried electrode such as transparent conductive oxide in CdTe based photovoltaics (PV). While in the existing PV, the buried electrode was routinely contacted via laser scribe filled metals, our work paves a way to an alternative technology of no-scribe PV.