From electronic grade to solar grade silicon: chances and challenges in photovoltaics

Photovoltaics is a promising but challenging opportunity for the environmentally clean production of electric energy, as the cost of the produced energy is still too high to compete with conventional thermal and nuclear sources, in spite of the scientific and technological progress occurred in this field after the first oil crisis of 1973. Among the problems which should be solved to make photovoltaics fully competitive, a breakthrough concerning the cost reduction of the base material is compulsory. Aim of this paper is to discuss the scientific and technological problems encountered in the development of solar silicon for its use in high efficiency and low cost solar cells, and to give some firm experimental evidences about its potentialities. (c) 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.