In photovoltaics, recent advances in light trapping open the way toward a decrease of the absorber thickness by more than one order of magnitude. It could enable significant material savings and cost reduction of silicon and thin-film solar cells, and may constitute a breakthrough for the development of hot-carrier solar cells. First, we review recent achievements of ultrathin GaAs and CIGS solar cells. Second, we describe 200nm-thick GaAs solar cells with a nanostructured back mirror and demonstrate a record 19.9% efficiency. Third, we present the development of ultrathin and low-cost CIGS solar cells with a back mirror.
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