Journal
SOLAR ENERGY
Volume 77, Issue 6, Pages 857-863Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.solener.2004.06.023
Keywords
photovoltaics; thin-film photovoltaics; thin-film silicon solar cells
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Crystalline silicon on glass (CSG) solar cell technology was developed to address the difficulty that silicon wafer-based technology has in reaching the very low costs required for large-scale photovoltaic applications as well as the perceived fundamental difficulties with other thin-film technologies. The aim was to combine the advantages of standard silicon wafer-based technology, namely ruggedness, durability, good electronic properties and environmental soundness with the advantages of thin-films, specifically low material use, large monolithic construction and a desirable glass superstrate configuration. The challenge has been to match the different preferred processing temperatures of silicon and glass and to obtain strong solar absorption in notoriously weakly-absorbing silicon of only 1.4 mum thickness, the thinnest active layer of the key thin-film contenders. A rugged, durable silicon thin-film technology has been developed arguably with the lowest likely manufacturing cost of these contenders and confirmed efficiency for small pilot line modules already in the 8-9% energy conversion efficiency range, on the path to 12-13%. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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