Large-area Silicon-Film™ manufacturing

The Silicon-Film™ process is on an accelerated path to large-scale manufacturing. A key element in that development is optimizing the specific geometry of both the Silicon-Film™ sheet and the resulting solar cell. That decision has been influenced by cost factors, engineering concerns, and marketing issues. The geometry investigation has focused first on sheet nominally 15 cm wide. This sheet generated solar cells with areas of 240 cm2 and 675 cm2. Most recently a new sheet fabrication machine was constructed that produces Silicon-Film™ with a width in excess of 30 cm. The results of testing have indicated that there is no limit to the width of sheet generated by this process. The new wide material has led to prototype solar cells with areas of 300, 400 and 1800 cm2. Test results are available on some sizes, with all results expected later this year. Significant advances in solar cell processing have been developed in support of fabricating devices of this size including diffusion and application of the a...