Perspectives of crystalline Si thin film solar cells: a new era of thin monocrystalline Si films?

A large number of competing approaches are currently being investigated around the world to develop crystalline silicon thin film solar cells on foreign substrates. These approaches can be broadly classified according to the crystalline state of the Si films employed: (i) thin film solar cells based on nano- or microcrystalline Si-films; (ii) cells fabricated from large-grained polycrystalline Si and (iii) recent approaches utilizing the transfer of monocrystalline Si films. The paper discusses prospects and limitations of these approaches and describes device results based on the transfer of quasi-monocrystalline Si films. Using Si absorber films epitaxially grown on quasi-monocrystalline Si, we achieve a conversion efficiency of 13˙6% for a 4 cm2 sized thin film solar cell on glass. In contrast to the limited performance of polycrystalline Si thin film solar cells imposed by the presence of grain boundaries, transfer approaches are expected to result in thin film solar cell efficiencies in the range of 15 – 18% depending on process maturity and complexity. The transfer of monocrystalline Si films therefore opens a new avenue to an efficient and competitive Si-based thin film technology. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

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