Solar electricity is produced almost entirely by panels, or modules, constructed with light-absorbing cells made from silicon. Silicon is the industry standard because it is reliable and inexpensive, with structure and performance that are well understood.
But silicon cell modules are little more than 20% efficient in converting sunlight into electricity, and their production is relatively expensive and complicated. Efforts to lower technology costs relative to yield therefore include different materials or combinations of materials. One such mix is cadmium, selenium and telluride, abbreviated as CdSeTe and spoken colloquially as “CadTel”.