A thin-film solar cell is a second generation solar cell that is made by

depositing one or more thin layers, or thin film (TF) of photovoltaic material
on a substrate, such as glass, plastic or metal. Thin-film solar cells are
commercially used in several technologies, including cadmium
telluride (CdTe), copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS), and amorphous
thin-film silicon (a-Si, TF-Si)

MATERIALS: Thin-film technologies reduce the amount of active

material in a cell. Most sandwich active material between two panes of
glass. Since silicon solar panels only use one pane of glass, thin film
panels are approximately twice as heavy as crystalline silicon panels,
although they have a smaller ecological impact (determined from life cycle
analysis). The majority of film panels have 2-3 percentage points lower
conversion efficiencies than crystalline silicon. Cadmium
telluride (CdTe), copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) and amorphous
silicon (a-Si) are three thin-film technologies often used for outdoor
applications.
Cadmium telluride
Cadmium telluride (CdTe) is the predominant thin film technology. With
about 5 percent of worldwide PV production, it accounts for more than half
of the thin film market. The cell's lab efficiency has also increased
significantly in recent years and is on a par with CIGS thin film and close to
the efficiency of multi-crystalline silicon as of 2013. Also, CdTe has the
lowest Energy payback time of all mass-produced PV technologies, and
can be as short as eight months in favorable locations. A prominent
manufacturer is the US-company First Solar based in Tempe, Arizona, that
produces CdTe-panels with an efficiency of about 14 percent at a reported
cost of $0.59 per watt.
Although the toxicity of cadmium may not be that much of an issue and
environmental concerns completely resolved with the recycling of CdTe
modules at the end of their life time, there are still uncertainties and the
public opinion is skeptical towards this technology. The usage of rare
materials may also become a limiting factor to the industrial scalability of
CdTe thin film technology. The rarity of tellurium—of which telluride is
the anionic form—is comparable to that of platinum in the earth's crust and
contributes significantly to the module's cost.
Copper indium gallium selenide

Possible combinations of Group-(XI, XIII, XVI) elements in the periodic table that
yield a compound showing photovoltaic effect: Cu, Ag, Au – Al, Ga, In – S, Se, Te.
A copper indium gallium selenide solar cell or CIGS cell uses an absorber
made of copper, indium, gallium, selenide (CIGS), while gallium-free
variants of the semiconductor material are abbreviated CIS. It is one of
three mainstream thin-film technologies, the other two being cadmium
telluride and amorphous silicon, with a lab-efficiency above 20 percent and
a share of 2 percent in the overall PV market in 2013. A prominent
manufacturer of cylindrical CIGS-panels was the now-bankrupt
company Solyndra in Fremont, California. Traditional methods of
fabrication involve vacuum processes including co-evaporation and
sputtering. In 2008, IBMand Tokyo Ohka Kogyo Co., Ltd. (TOK) announced
they had developed a new, non-vacuum, solution-based manufacturing
process for CIGS cells and are aiming for efficiencies of 15% and beyond.
Hyperspectral imaging has been used to characterize these cells.
Researchers from IRDEP (Institute of Research and Development in
Photovoltaic Energy) in collaboration with Photon etc.¸ were able to
determine the splitting of the quasi-Fermi level
with photoluminescence mapping while the electroluminescence data were
used to derive the external quantum efficiency (EQE). Also, through a light
beam induced current (LBIC) cartography experiment, the EQE of a
microcrystalline CIGS solar cell could be determined at any point in the
field of view.
As of September 2014, current conversion efficiency record for a laboratory
CIGS cell stands at 21.7%.
Silicon
Three major silicon-based module designs dominate:

 amorphous silicon cells

 amorphous / microcrystalline tandem cells (micromorph)
 thin-film polycrystalline silicon on glass.

Amorphous silicon

Amorphous silicon (a-Si) is a non-crystalline, allotropic form of silicon and

the most well-developed thin film technology to-date. Thin-film silicon is an
alternative to conventional wafer (or bulk) crystalline silicon.
While chalcogenide-based CdTe and CIS thin films cells have been
developed in the lab with great success, there is still industry interest in
silicon-based thin film cells. Silicon-based devices exhibit fewer problems
than their CdTe and CIS counterparts such as toxicity and humidity issues
with CdTe cells and low manufacturing yields of CIS due to material
complexity. Additionally, due to political resistance to the use non-"green"
materials in solar energy production, there is no stigma in the use of
standard silicon.
This type of thin-film cell is mostly fabricated by a technique called plasma-
enhanced chemical vapor deposition. It uses a gaseous mixture
of silane (SiH4) and hydrogen to deposit a very thin layer of only 1
micrometre (µm) of silicon on a substrate, such as glass, plastic or metal,
that has already been coated with a layer of transparent conducting oxide.
Other methods used to deposit amorphous silicon on a substrate
include sputtering and hot wire chemical vapor deposition techniques.
a-Si is attractive as a solar cell material because it's an abundant, non-toxic
material. It requires a low processing temperature and enables a scalable
production upon a flexible, low-cost substrate with little silicon material
required. Due to its bandgap of 1.7 eV, amorphous silicon also absorbs a
very broad range of the light spectrum, that includes infrared and even
some ultraviolet and performs very well at weak light. This allows the cell to
generate power in the early morning, or late afternoon and on cloudy and
rainy days, contrary to crystalline silicon cells, that are significantly less
efficient when exposed at diffuseand indirect daylight.
However, the efficiency of an a-Si cell suffers a significant drop of about 10
to 30 percent during the first six months of operation. This is called
the Staebler-Wronski effect (SWE) – a typical loss in electrical output due
to changes in photoconductivity and dark conductivity caused by prolonged
exposure to sunlight. Although this degradation is perfectly reversible
upon annealing at or above 150 °C, conventional c-Si solar cells do not
exhibit this effect in the first place.
Its basic electronic structure is the p-i-n junction. The amorphous structure
of a-Si implies high inherent disorder and dangling bonds, making it a bad
conductor for charge carriers. These dangling bonds act as recombination
centers that severely reduce carrier lifetime. A p-i-n structure is usually
used, as opposed to an n-i-p structure. This is because the mobility of
electrons in a-Si:H is roughly 1 or 2 orders of magnitude larger than that of
holes, and thus the collection rate of electrons moving from the n- to p-type
contact is better than holes moving from p- to n-type contact. Therefore, the
p-type layer should be placed at the top where the light intensity is
stronger, so that the majority of the charge carriers crossing the junction
are electrons.
Tandem-cell using a-Si/μc-Si
A layer of amorphous silicon can be combined with layers of other allotropic
forms of silicon to produce a multi-junction solar cell. When only two layers
(two p-n junctions) are combined, it is called a tandem-cell. By stacking
these layers on top of one other, a broader range of the light spectra is
absorbed, improving the cell's overall efficiency.
In micromorphous silicon, a layer of microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si) is
combined with amorphous silicon, creating a tandem cell. The top a-Si
layer absorbs the visible light, leaving the infrared part to the bottom μc-Si
layer. The micromorph stacked-cell concept was pioneered and patented at
the Institute of Microtechnology (IMT) of the Neuchâtel University in
Switzerland, and was licensed to TEL Solar. A new world record PV
module based on the micromorph concept with 12.24% module efficiency
was independently certified in July 2014.
Because all layers are made of silicon, they can be manufactured using
PECVD. The band gap of a-Si is 1.7 eV and that of c-Si is 1.1 eV. The c-Si
layer can absorb red and infrared light. The best efficiency can be achieved
at transition between a-Si and c-Si. As nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) has
about the same bandgap as c-Si, nc-Si can replace c-Si.
Tandem-cell using a-Si/pc-Si
Amorphous silicon can also be combined with protocrystalline silicon (pc-
Si) into a tandem-cell. Protocrystalline silicon with a low volume fraction of
nanocrystalline silicon is optimal for high open-circuit voltage. These types
of silicon present dangling and twisted bonds, which results in deep defects
(energy levels in the bandgap) as well as deformation of
the valence and conduction bands (band tails).

Polycrystalline silicon on glass

A new attempt to fuse the advantages of bulk silicon with those of thin-film
devices is thin film polycrystalline silicon on glass. These modules are
produced by depositing an antireflection coating and doped silicon onto
textured glass substrates using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor
deposition (PECVD). The texture in the glass enhances the efficiency of the
cell by approximately 3% by reducing the amount of incident light reflecting
from the solar cell and trapping light inside the solar cell. The silicon film is
crystallized by an annealing step, temperatures of 400–600 Celsius,
resulting in polycrystalline silicon.
These new devices show energy conversion efficiencies of 8% and high
manufacturing yields of >90%. Crystalline silicon on glass (CSG), where
the polycrystalline silicon is 1–2 micrometres, is noted for its stability and
durability; the use of thin film techniques also contributes to a cost savings
over bulk photovoltaics. These modules do not require the presence of a
transparent conducting oxide layer. This simplifies the production process
twofold; not only can this step be skipped, but the absence of this layer
makes the process of constructing a contact scheme much simpler. Both of
these simplifications further reduce the cost of production. Despite the
numerous advantages over alternative design, production cost estimations
on a per unit area basis show that these devices are comparable in cost to
single-junction amorphous thin film cells.
Gallium arsenide
The semiconductor material gallium arsenide (GaAs) is also used for
single-crystalline thin film solar cells. Although GaAs cells are very
expensive, they hold the world record for the highest-efficiency, single-
junction solar cell at 28.8%. GaAs is more commonly used in multi-junction
solar cells for solar panels on spacecrafts, as the industry favours efficiency
over cost for space-based solar power(InGaP/(In)GaAs/Ge cells). They are
also used in concentrator photovoltaics, an emerging technology best
suited for locations that receive much sunlight, using lenses to focus
sunlight on a much smaller, thus less expensive GaAs concentrator solar
cell.
EFFICIENCIES: Incremental improvements in efficiency began with
the invention of the first modern silicon solar cell in 1954. By 2010 these
steady improvements had resulted in modules capable of converting 12 to
18 percent of solar radiation into electricity. The improvements to efficiency
have continued to accelerate in the years since 2010, as shown in the
accompanying chart.
Cells made from newer materials tend to be less efficient than bulk silicon,
but are less expensive to produce. Their quantum efficiency is also lower
due to reduced number of collected charge carriers per incident photon.
The performance and potential of thin-film materials are high,
reaching cell efficiencies of 12–20%; prototype module efficiencies of 7–
13%; and production modules in the range of 9%.The thin film cell
prototype with the best efficiency yields 20.4% (First Solar), comparable to
the best conventional solar cell prototype efficiency of 25.6%
from Panasonic.
NREL once predicted that costs would drop below $100/m2 in volume
production, and could later fall below $50/m2.
A new record for thin film solar cell efficiency of 22.3% has been achieved
by solar frontier the world's largest cis solar energy provider. In joint
research with the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development
Organization (NEDO) of Japan, Solar Frontier achieved 22.3% conversion
efficiency on a 0.5 cm2 cell using its CIS technology. This is an increase of
0.6 percentage points over the industry's previous thin-film record of
21.7%.
PRODUCTION ,COST AND MARKET:
With the advances in conventional crystalline silicon (c-Si) technology in
recent years, and the falling cost of the polysilicon feedstock, that followed
after a period of severe global shortage, pressure increased on
manufacturers of commercial thin-film technologies, including amorphous
thin-film silicon (a-Si), cadmium telluride (CdTe), and copper indium gallium
diselenide (CIGS), leading to the bankruptcy of several companies. As of
2013, thin-film manufacturers continue to face price competition from
Chinese refiners of silicon and manufacturers of conventional c-Si solar
panels. Some companies together with their patents were sold to Chinese
firms below cost.
Market-share
In 2013 thin-film technologies accounted for about 9 percent of worldwide
deployment, while 91 percent was held by crystalline silicon (mono-
Si and multi-Si). With 5 percent of the overall market, CdTe holds more
than half of the thin-film market, leaving 2 percent to each CIGS and
amorphous silicon.
CIGS technology

Several prominent manufacturers couldn't stand the pressure caused by

advances in conventional c-Si technology of recent years. The
company Solyndra ceased all business activity and filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy in 2011, and Nanosolar, also a CIGS manufacturer, closed its
doors in 2013. Although both companies produced CIGS solar cells, it has
been pointed out, that the failure was not due to the technology but rather
because of the companies themselves, using a flawed architecture, such
as, for example, Solyndra's cylindrical substrates. In 2014, Korean LG
Electronics terminated research on CIGS restructuring its solar business,
and Samsung SDI decided to cease CIGS-production, while Chinese PV
manufacturer Hanergy is expected to ramp up production capacity of their
15.5% efficient, 650 mm×1650 mm CIGS-modules. One of the largest
producers of CI(G)S photovoltaics is the Japanese company Solar
Frontier with a manufacturing capacity in the gigawatt-scale.

CdTe technology

The company First Solar, a leading manufacturer of CdTe, has been

building several of the world's largest solar power stations, such as
the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm and Topaz Solar Farm, both in the
Californian desert with a 550 MW capacity each, as well as the 102-
megawatt Nyngan Solar Plant in Australia, the largest PV power station in
the Southern Hemisphere, commissioned in 2015.
In 2011, GE announced plans to spend $600 million on a new CdTe solar
cell plant and enter this market and in 2013, First Solar bought GE's CdTe
thin-film intellectual property portfolio and formed a business partnership. In
2012 Abound Solar, a manufacturer of cadmium telluride modules, went
bankrupt.
a-Si technology

In 2012, ECD solar, once one of the world's leading manufacturer of

amorphous silicon (a-Si) technology, filed for bankruptcy in Michigan,
United States. Swiss OC Oerlikon divested its solar division that produced
a-Si/μc-Si tandem cells to Tokyo Electron Limited. In 2014, the Japanese
electronics and semiconductor company announced the closure of
its micromorph technology development program. "Micromorph" was the
commercial name for a solar tandem cell using a microcrystalline silicon
layer above the amorphous layer (a-Si/µ-Si).
Other companies that left the amorphous silicon thin-film market
include DuPont, BP, Flexcell, Inventux, Pramac, Schuco, Sencera, EPV
Solar, NovaSolar (formerly OptiSolar) and Suntech Power that stopped
manufacturing a-Si modules in 2010 to focus on conventional silicon solar
panels. In 2013, Suntech filed for bankruptcy in China. In August 2013, the
spot market price of thin-film a-Si and a-Si/µ-Si dropped to €0.36 and
€0.46, respectively (about $0.50 and $0.60) per watt.

Worldwide Photovoltaic Deployment in

Watts per Capita by Country
APPLICATIONS
Applications of thin-film solar cells began in the 1980s with
small strips that were used for calculators and watches.
Throughout the early 21st century the potential for thin-
film applications increased greatly, because of their
flexibility, which facilitates their installation on curved
surfaces as well as their use in building-integrated
photovoltaics.
However, standard and rigid photovoltaics, such as classic
crystalline silicon panels, outperform thin-films in
efficiency. With the exception of cadmium telluride thin-
films, nonflexible photovoltaic cells have faster payback
times, and their construction is more durable, which has
advantages in many applications. The advantages of both
types of solar cells raise two questions: What does the
consumer or client prefer? and Which type will perform
best for a particular application?

As thin-film solar cells continue to improve in efficiency, it

is predicted that they could overtake the classic inflexible
photovoltaic technologies that have been in use since the
mid-20th century. Sheets of thin-films may be used to
generate electricity increasingly in places where other
photovoltaic cells cannot be used, such as on curved
surfaces on buildings or cars or even on clothing to charge
handheld devices. Such uses could help to achieve a
sustainable energy future.