Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells

The general aspects of the photovoltaic field are treated in photovoltaic solar energy.

Thin film silicon solar cells.

This is the first comprehensive treatment of light trapping techniques for the enhancement of the optical absorption in thin silicon films. The development of silicon thin film solar cells started in the 1970s but there was no big breakthrough until the 1980s. Amorphous silicon cells generally feature low efficiency but are one of the most. An analysis of the spectral quantum efficiency of thin solar cells is given as well as a full set of analytical models.

10 3 2 1 5 silicon thin film solar cells. A thin film solar cell is a second generation solar cell that is made by depositing one or more thin layers or thin film tf of photovoltaic material on a substrate such as glass plastic or metal. Offered by école polytechnique. Used as semiconductor material for a si solar cells or thin film silicon solar cells it is deposited in thin films onto a variety of flexible substrates such as glass metal and plastic.

Amorphous silicon a si is the non crystalline form of silicon used for solar cells and thin film transistors in lcds. In addition to the. Thin film solar cells are commercially used in several technologies including cadmium telluride cdte copper indium gallium diselenide cigs and amorphous thin film silicon a si tf si. Commercial large area modules do have efficiencies that are now nearing 10 for.

This course consists of a general presentation of solar cells based on silicon thin films. Transparent thin film silicon solar cells for indoor light harvesting with conversion efficiencies of 36 without photodegradation. Thin film solar cells are made by combining photovoltaic material that s been separated into paper thin layers. Generally thin film solar cells are separated into the following categories.

The thickness of the silicon crystal layer should be only 5 50 mm so the acceptable substrates can be sub silicon materials glass ceramic or graphite. Thin film silicon solar cells and modules have at present a significant disadvantage with respect to wafer based crystalline silicon modules and even with respect to some other thin film modules such as cigs modules. It is the third mooc of the photovoltaic series of ecole polytechnique on coursera. And the detailed description of the crystalline silicon solar cells can be found in physics of.

Earlier thin solar panels were made of thin slices of crystalline silicon from monocrystalline and polycrystalline silicon ingots but this newest form of thin film silicon uses better technology and is going to expand the number of portable applications for solar within the renewable energy industry. A micron for reference is one millionth of a meter 1 1 000 000 m or 1 µm. Unlike silicon wafer cells which have light absorbing layers that are traditionally 350 microns thick thin film solar cells have light absorbing layers that are just one micron thick.