Crystalline thin silicon cells

Author

Goetzberger, A.

Author_Institution

Fraunhofer-Inst. fur Solare Energiesysteme, Freiburg, Germany

fYear

1997

fDate

29 Sep-3 Oct 1997

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

6

Abstract

A review of the history and present state of crystalline thin silicon technology is given. Thin silicon cells are defined as consisting of silicon of a thickness of less than 50 microns, which need a substrate to be self supporting. In the beginning of this technology stood the recognition that optical and electrical confinement is needed to reduce silicon thickness. The most widely used deposition technologies (plasma deposition, liquid phase epitaxy and CVD) and substrate materials are reviewed. Critical parameters are the temperature range of the technology and deposition rate. The highest efficiencies on nonsilicon substrates achieved today are 9 to 11%

Keywords

elemental semiconductors; liquid phase epitaxial growth; plasma CVD; semiconductor thin films; silicon; solar cells; substrates; 9 to 11 percent; CVD; Si; Si solar cell; crystalline thin silicon cells; deposition technologies; electrical confinement; liquid phase epitaxy; optical confinement; plasma deposition; self supporting substrate; temperature range; Crystallization; Epitaxial growth; History; Optical materials; Plasma confinement; Plasma materials processing; Plasma temperature; Silicon; Substrates; Temperature distribution;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1997., Conference Record of the Twenty-Sixth IEEE

Conference_Location

Anaheim, CA

ISSN

0160-8371

Print_ISBN

0-7803-3767-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.1997.653912

Filename

653912