Thin Film Solar Cell

Thin Film Solar Cell

A thin-film solar cell (TFSC), also called a thin-film photovoltaic cell (TFPV), is a solar cell that is made by depositing one or more thin layers (thin film) of photovoltaic material on a substrate. The thickness range of such a layer is wide and varies from a few nanometers to tens of micrometers.

Many different photovoltaic materials are deposited with various deposition methods on a variety of substrates. Thin-film solar cells are usually categorized according to the photovoltaic material used:

Amorphous silicon (a-Si) and other thin-film silicon (TF-Si)
Cadmium telluride (CdTe)
Copper indium gallium selenide (CIS or CIGS)
Dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) and other organic solar cells

$\begin{pmatrix}\mathrm{Cu}\\\mathrm{Ag}\\\mathrm{Au}\end{pmatrix} \begin{pmatrix}\mathrm{Al}\\\mathrm{Ga}\\\mathrm{In}\end{pmatrix} \begin{pmatrix}\mathrm{S} \\\mathrm{Se}\\\mathrm{Te}\end{pmatrix}_2$

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).

Famous quotes containing the words thin, film, solar and/or cell:

“a voice still so hollow
That it seems to call out to me from forty years ago,
When you were all aglow,
And not the thin ghost that I now frailly follow!”
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)

“This film is apparently meaningless, but if it has any meaning it is doubtless objectionable.”
—British Board Of Film Censors. Quoted in Halliwell’s Filmgoer’s Companion (1984)

“The solar system has no anxiety about its reputation, and the credit of truth and honesty is as safe; nor have I any fear that a skeptical bias can be given by leaning hard on the sides of fate, of practical power, or of trade, which the doctrine of Faith cannot down-weigh.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

“I turn and turn in my cell like a fly that doesn’t know where to die.”
—Antonio Gramsci (1891–1937)