Publications (1)0 Total impact
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M.A. Green,
P.A. Basore,
N. Chang,
D. Clugston,
R. Egan,
R. Evans,
D. Hogg,
S. Jarnason,
M. Keevers,
P. Lasswell, J. O’Sullivan,
U. Schubert,
A. Turner,
S.R. Wenham,
T. Young
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ABSTRACT: Crystalline silicon on glass (CSG) solar cell technology was developed to address the difficulty that silicon wafer-based technology has in reaching the very low costs required for large-scale photovoltaic applications as well as the perceived fundamental difficulties with other thin-film technologies. The aim was to combine the advantages of standard silicon wafer-based technology, namely ruggedness, durability, good electronic properties and environmental soundness with the advantages of thin-films, specifically low material use, large monolithic construction and a desirable glass superstrate configuration. The challenge has been to match the different preferred processing temperatures of silicon and glass and to obtain strong solar absorption in notoriously weakly-absorbing silicon of only 1.4 μm thickness, the thinnest active layer of the key thin-film contenders. A rugged, durable silicon thin-film technology has been developed arguably with the lowest likely manufacturing cost of these contenders and confirmed efficiency for small pilot line modules already in the 8–9% energy conversion efficiency range, on the path to 12–13%.
Solar Energy.
