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).

Read more about Thin Film Solar Cell:  History, Thin-film Silicon, Organic Solar Cells, Efficiencies, Volumes and Prices, Production, Cost and Market, Installations, Time Award, See Also

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

    “Slim Woman,
    all your ample parts
    have become thin
    and even the thin ones
    have reached the limit
    of thinness.
    What’s the use of anger here?”
    —Hla Stavhana (c. 50 A.D.)

    “Film as dream, film as music. No art passes our conscience in the way film does, and goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls.”
    —Ingmar Bergman (b. 1918)

    “Senta: These boats, sir, what are they for?
    Hamar: They are solar boats for Pharaoh to use after his death. They’re the means by which Pharaoh will journey across the skies with the sun, with the god Horus. Each day they will sail from east to west, and each night Pharaoh will return to the east by the river which runs underneath the earth.”
    —William Faulkner (1897–1962)

    “It is plain that there is no separate essence called courage, no cup or cell in the brain, no vessel in the heart containing drops or atoms that make or give this virtue; but it is the right or healthy state of every man, when he is free to do that which is constitutional to him to do.”
    —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)