A review of thin film silicon for solar cell applications [Conference Paper]

Abstract

For photovoltaic technology to compete economically with conventional sources of electricity the costs of module production must be reduced to around US$1/Watt with module efficiencies around 15%. One of the most promising ways to achieve this long-term goal is thin crystalline silicon solar cells. Crystalline silicon solar cells have the advantages of market dominance, non-toxicity, material abundance, stability, high efficiency potential and the ability to share research and infrastructure costs with the integrated circuit industry. Currently wafers are produced by expensive silicon purification, ingot growth and dicing processes. The cost of the wafer is about half of the cost of the finished solar module. Thin film technologies reduce the amount of silicon used and hence potentially the cost per watt of power output. Thin cells also allow the use of poorer quality material for a given efficiency. This paper reviews the current state of research in thin crystalline silicon solar cells. Deposition on foreign substrates and low-quality silicon substrates is discussed, as well as ribbon grown silicon and novel techniques which use a high quality, reusable silicon substrate. Show more