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Crystalline silicon thin-film solar cells on ceramic substrates

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Abstract

We provide a review and analysis of research on crystalline silicon thin-film solar cells (CSiTFSCs) on ceramic substrates. The use of foreign substrates (non-silicon materials) for the processing of crystalline silicon solar cells could potentially decrease solar-grade silicon consumption and significantly reduce module costs. In order to enhance the efficiency potential of CSiTFSCs on ceramic substrates, high-temperature silicon film deposition is favored. High-quality electronic-grade silicon films are intended to be deposited at higher temperature as it can help increase both deposition rates and grain sizes. The potential low-cost ceramic substrates have some major restrictions in terms of cell processing technology at high temperatures. In this paper, an overview of the research on thin-film solar-cell technologies on ceramic substrates is presented. Major processing steps for CSiTFSC such as substrate/intermediate layer requirements and silicon thin-film deposition at high temperatures will be discussed. So far, devices have been demonstrated with efficiencies up to 13.4% on graphite, 8.2% on mullite, and 9.4% on silicon nitride (Si3N4) ceramic substrates.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Green Strategic Energy Research Institute, Department of Electronics Engineering, Sejong University, Seoul, 143-747, Korea

    Atteq Ur Rehman, Sang Hee Lee & Soo Hong Lee

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  1. Atteq Ur Rehman
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  2. Sang Hee Lee
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Rehman, A.U., Lee, S.H. & Lee, S.H. Crystalline silicon thin-film solar cells on ceramic substrates. Electron. Mater. Lett. 11, 295–302 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13391-014-4254-8

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