Development of a-Si solar cells heats up

In conventional solar cells, either single or poly-crystals of Si and GaAs are used. Fabrication of these solar cells is complicated and requires a great deal of production cost. As such, it is not possible to reduce production cost much further. These problems are eliminated with a-Si solar cells. The development of a-Si solar cells began in 1975 with the publication of a report by W.E. Spear and P.G. Lecomber of Dundee University describing the valency control in a-Si fabricated using the plasma reaction in silane. Topics discussed are characteristics of a-Si solar cells, recent development trends, improvement of conversion efficiency, fabrication procedures, materials, structure, reliability and applications.