Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells

Commercial large area modules do have efficiencies that are now nearing 10 for.

Thin film silicon solar cells.

Their conversion efficiency is quite a bit lower. This course consists of a general presentation of solar cells based on silicon thin films. The general aspects of the photovoltaic field are treated in photovoltaic solar energy. 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.

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. 10 3 2 1 5 silicon thin film solar cells. 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. And the detailed description of the crystalline silicon solar cells can be found in physics of.

The end result is thin film photovoltaic cells tfpv that differ according to the type of photovoltaic material that s placed on the substrate. 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. 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. Transparent thin film silicon solar cells for indoor light harvesting with conversion efficiencies of 36 without photodegradation.

The development of silicon thin film solar cells started in the 1970s but there was no big breakthrough until the 1980s. Amorphous silicon a si is the non crystalline form of silicon used for solar cells and thin film transistors in lcds. Amorphous silicon cells generally feature low efficiency but are one of the most. Emerging materials research section electronics and telecommunications research institute etri 218 gajeong ro yuseong gu daejeon 305 700 republic of korea.

Generally thin film solar cells are separated into the following categories. A micron for reference is one millionth of a meter 1 1 000 000 m or 1 µm. Offered by école polytechnique. Thin film solar cells are made by combining photovoltaic material that s been separated into paper thin layers.

This is the first comprehensive treatment of light trapping techniques for the enhancement of the optical absorption in thin silicon films. It is the third mooc of the photovoltaic series of ecole polytechnique on coursera. In addition to the.