Photovoltaic thin-film technology based on hydrogenated amorphous silicon

Solar modules based on amorphous silicon combine a number of properties that lead to a wide range of attractive applications, from watch dials to roof integration and semitransparent insulating glazing. The specificities of manufacturing are described, and it can be shown that they ultimately render competitive manufacturing costs and hence total system costs sufficiently low to offset the drawback of lower efficiencies. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.