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Recent Progress in Amorphous Silicon Solar Cells and Their Technologies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2013

Y. Hamakawa,
W. Ma and
H. Okamoto
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Extract

A big barrier impeding the expansion of large-scale power generation by photovoltaic (PV) systems was the high price of solar cell modules, which was more than $50/Wp (peak watts) by 1974. Therefore, cost reduction of solar cells is of prime importance. To achieve this objective, tremendous R&D efforts have been made over the past ten years in a wide variety of technical fields, from solar cell materials, cell structure, and mass production processes to photovoltaic systems. As a result, more than an order of magnitude in cost reduction has been achieved, and the module cost has come down to less than $5/Wp in a firm bid for the large-scale market. Two phases of technological innovation can be identified. The first innovation in progress is based on low-cost polycrystalline technologies applicable to well-developed single-crystalline silicon solar cell fabrication processes. The second remarkable innovation is a-Si:H (hydrogenated amorphous silicon) technology, which we will discuss.

We open our discussion with a brief overview of the present status of a-Si solar cell R&D efforts, with some new insights in device physics. Next, we discuss some new approaches and key technologies for improving solar cell efficiency with stabilized performance using new materials such as a-SiC:H (amorphous silicon carbide), μc-SiC:H (microcrystalline silicon carbide), and a-SiGe:H (amorphous silicon germanium). Also, the progress of conversion efficiency in various types of amorphous silicon solar cells is surveyed and summarized.

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Type
Materials for Photovoltaics
Information
MRS Bulletin , Volume 18 , Issue 10 , October 1993, pp. 38 - 41
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1993

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