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Overview of Cast Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2013

Hiroyuki Watanabe
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Extract

Worldwide environmental problems such as the greenhouse effect and acid rain have been caused by the human race's continuous reliance on the combustion of petroleum for fuel.

Solar energy, which is clean and practically unlimited, is expected to be a desirable alternate energy source to conventional power supplies, and demand for the photovoltaic system has increased throughout the world, especially in Europe and the United States.

Photovoltaic cells are probably the most effective method for capturing solar energy, since they are easy to use and are the most effective means of directly generating electricity.

Many kinds of solar cells have been developed in past years, especially since the first oil crisis in 1973. Among them, solar cells from cast multicrystalline silicon (also refereed to as (cast) polycrystalline silicon or semicrystalline silicon) are considered to be one of the most promising types, capable of achieving both high efficiency and low cost.

In 1975, Wacker proposed a new manufacturing method for silicon substrates, using the casting method. Since then, many organizations have been involved in the research and development of multicrystalline ingots and solar cells using multicrystalline silicon substrates.

Multicrystalline silicon substrates contain many kinds of defects compared to single-crystal silicon substrates, so the efficiency of multicrystalline silicon solar cells has been inferior to that of single-crystal cells. Recent research on multicrystalline silicon solar cells has resulted in substantial improvements and in the demonstration of high-efficiency cells.

Type
Materials for Photovoltaics
Information
MRS Bulletin , Volume 18 , Issue 10 , October 1993 , pp. 29 - 32
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1993

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