Record cells typically use high sheet-resistance transparent conducting oxide (TCO), ultra-thin CdS, and thick CdTe layers to achieve high efficiencies. In this paper, the path to high efficiencies using manufacturable film thicknesses is discussed, demonstrating > 15% cells on commercially available TCO and> 16% cells on non-commercially available TCO. The biggest impact on the performance has been the use of a non-commercially available TCO, which allows the use of 80 nm thick CdS layers to get a performance of above 16%, due to the higher fill-factor as compared with typical world-record devices. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All