Silicon thin films

Silicon thin-film cells are mainly deposited by chemical vapor deposition (typically plasma-enhanced (PE-CVD)) from silane gas and hydrogen gas. Depending on the deposition parameters, this can yield:

1. Amorphous silicon (a-Si or a-Si:H)
2. Protocrystalline silicon or
3. Nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si or nc-Si:H), also called microcrystalline silicon.

It has been found that 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). The solar cells made from these materials tend to have lower energy conversion efficiency than bulk silicon, but are also less expensive to produce. The quantum efficiency of thin film solar cells is also lower due to reduced number of collected charge carriers per incident photon.

Amorphous silicon has a higher bandgap (1.7 eV) than crystalline silicon (c-Si) (1.1 eV), which means it absorbs the visible part of the solar spectrum more strongly than the infrared portion of the spectrum. As nc-Si has about the same bandgap as c-Si, the nc-Si and a-Si can advantageously be combined in thin layers, creating a layered cell called a tandem cell. The top cell in a-Si absorbs the visible light and leaves the infrared part of the spectrum for the bottom cell in nc-Si.

Recently, solutions to overcome the limitations of thin-film crystalline silicon have been developed. Light trapping schemes where the weakly absorbed long wavelength light is obliquely coupled into the silicon and traverses the film several times can significantly enhance the absorption of sunlight in the thin silicon films.Thermal processing techniques can significantly enhance the crystal quality of the silicon and thereby lead to higher efficiencies of the final solar cells.


A silicon thin film technology is being developed for building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) in the form of semi-transparent solar cells which can be applied as window glazing. These cells function as window tinting while generating electricity.