ADVANCES IN AMORPHOUS-SILICON PHOTOVOLTAIC TECHNOLOGY

With the advent of new multijunction thin film solar cells, amorphous silicon photovoltaic technology is undergoing a commercial revival wit h about 30 megawatts of annual capacity coming on-line in the next yea r. These new a-Si multijunction modules should exhibit stabilized conv ersion efficiencies on the order of 8%, and efficiencies over 10% may be obtained in the next several years. The improved performance result s from the development of amorphous and microcrystalline silicon alloy films with improved optoelectronic properties and from the developmen t of more efficient device structures. Moreover, the manufacturing cos ts for these multijunction modules using the new large-scale plants sh ould be on the order of $1 per peak watt. These modules may find wides pread use in solar farms, photovoltaic roofing, as well as in traditio nal remote applications.