2004 Volume 73 Issue 7 Pages 898-909
The present status of Si-based thin film solar cells is reviewed. Substantial progress was made in amorphous Si(a-Si) thin film technology, and a-Si single junction solar cells with an efficiency of 8% are commercially available now. Amorphous Si solar cells opened a new market in photovoltaics. However, scientific focus is recently shifting from a-Si to microcrystalline Si (μc-Si). In the area of μc-Si solar cells, the development of high-rate deposition techniques will be required in addition to the achievement of high efficiencies. Up until now, an efficiency of 13% has been achieved for a-Si/μc-Si large-area modules. Furthermore, a novel idea for improving the efficiency of Si-based thin film solar cells using μc-SiGeC is proposed.
