Silicon Electroplating for Low Cost Solar Cells and Thin Film Transistors
Silicon electroplating offers a low-cost method for the production of high-performance low-cost silicon solar cells that can be used in small portables and large-scale applications, like the grid. Silicon remains the semiconductor of choice because silico
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Silicon Electroplating for Low Cost Solar Cells and Thin Film Transistors Dominic F. Gervasio and Olgierd Palusinski
Abstract Silicon electroplating offers a low-cost method for the production of high-performance low-cost silicon solar cells that can be used in small portables and large-scale applications, like the grid. Silicon remains the semiconductor of choice because silicon has the best combination of efficiency, cost, durability, and availability. Silicon photovoltaic (PV) devices are likely to dominate the market for a long time. Silicon solar cells have reasonable efficiency (up to 15%), cost (as low as $2/peak watt), and excellent reliability (losing less than 1% power output per year over 25 years), and since silica is abundant, silicon depletion is not a worry. Although silicon is the best photovoltaic option and has the largest market share, it is still too costly to provide the majority of grid power. Cost remains a major barrier to further market penetration, because current thin film semiconducting silicon preparation uses high-temperature (750–1,000 C) deposition processes, such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD), which require high levels of electrical power and energy and convert only 10% of the silane feed to useful silicon. Clearly silicon PV manufacturers need to increase efficiency and lower wastes and cost. Silicon electrodeposition offers an effective alternative to CVD for making silicon devices with substantially reduced processing costs so that solar photovoltaics can be cost competitive with the typical cost for installing new electrical power generators in the grid. Using silicon electrodeposition as the silicon processing in the manufacture of a variety of semiconductor applications is reviewed. A practical way of electroplating silicon from silicon salts dissolved in ionic liquids is discussed with early results and prospects.
D.F. Gervasio (*) Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA e-mail: [email protected] O. Palusinski Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA A. Korkin and D.J. Lockwood (eds.), Nanoscale Applications for Information 149 and Energy Systems, Nanostructure Science and Technology, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-5016-0_5, # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
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D.F. Gervasio and O. Palusinski
Introduction
Bob Dylan sang “. . .the times they are a changing” to urge social reform. These words could just as well lead the call for the reform of industrial practices. In the twentieth century, the growth of industry was literally fueled by oil and was so successful that it has grown itself out of business as usual. The manufacturing practices and energy technology that spurred industrialization over the last century are becoming obsolete. The “energy crisis” of the 1970s leading to a threefold rise in oil prices was really an “oil-distribution crisis” and was largely forgotten when oil prices fell. However, oil prices are rising again b
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