Crystalline silicon technology

Crystalline silicon technology is the most mature and best understood of PV technologies. Researchers have identified the principal barriers that limit efficiency and, as a result, since the mid-1980s laboratory cells have climbed from 18 to - 23% and commercial production from 12 to - 15%. This is a particularly impressive achievement since crystalline silicon was regarded as mature in the early 1980s. 

These features imply that the cost reduction potential for thin-film technology is very high and it is thus capable, in the longer term, of extending the P V learning curve beyond the point that can be reached by crystalline silicon technology. 

Nevertheless, the first functional working TFT was demonstrated by Weimer in 1962 (Ref 2). He used thin films of polycrystalline cadmium sulfide, similar to those ones developed for photodetectors. The simplified structure is shown in Fig. 1(b). Other TFT semiconductor materials like CdSe, Te, InSb and Ge were investigated, but in the mid-1960 s the emergence of the metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) based on the crystalline silicon technology and the possibility to perform integrated circuits, led to a decline in TFT development activity by the end of the 1960s. 

Puiso, J. 2004. Growth kinetics and properties of lead sulfide thin films deposited on crystalline silicon using successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction method. Ph.D. thesis. Kaunas University of Technology, Kaunas, Lithuania. 

Teyssi6, D. Boileau, S. Liquid Crystalline Silicon-Containing Polymers. In Silicon-Containing Polymers. The Science and Technology of Their Synthesis and Applications, Jones, R. G., Ando, W., Chojnowski, J., Eds. Kluwer Dordrecht, 2000 pp 593-613. 

Wafer-based crystalline silicon has been the dominant technology since the birth of photovoltaics. It is abundant, reliable and scientifically well understood, as it has enjoyed the knowledge and technology originally developed for the microelectronics... 

From what we know today, crystalline silicon-based technology has the capability to continue to follow the established price experience curve, with direct production costs expected to achieve significant reduction to around 1.00 in 2013 and 0.75 in 2020 and even lower in the long term. This is true for other technologies... 

Australia, and scaled up by BP Solar in Spain, the heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer (HIT) cells developed by Sanyo by replacing the diffused P-doped emitter with an amorphous silicon layer and the back contact cells developed by Stanford University for use in concentrator technology and now converted to a large area for flat plate use. All three use single-crystalline silicon, while the majority of screen-printed cells use multicrystalline silicon wafers. 

Photovoltaic Manufacturing Technology Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Wafers... 

G-15 Best research cell efficiencies for multijunction concentrator, thin-film, crystalline silicon, and emerging photovoltaic technologies, 236... 

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