'Passivated Emitter and Rear Contact’ solar cells, known as PERC solar cells, are becoming more common today as an option for making solar panels.

Passivated Emitter Rear Contact (PERC) solar cells consist of the addition of an extra layer to the rear-side of a solar cell. This dielectric passive layer acts to reflect unabsorbed light back to the solar cell for a second absorption attempt increasing the solar cell efficiency.

A PERC is created through an additional film deposition and etching process. Etching can be done either by chemical or laser processing. About 80% of solar panels worldwide use the PERC design.

Martin Green, Andrew Blakers, Jianhua Zhao and Aihua Wang won the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering in 2023 for development of the PERC solar cell.