Objective PROJECT OBJECTIVES The objective of the project is to produce a low cost solar cell by depositing a high quality film of crystalline silicon onto a low cost substrate such as glass. The particular feature of this project is that the choice of substrate requires that the deposition be done at a temperature below 650 C while still maintaining a good electronic quality in the material. Attention will be paid to achieving a high efficiency for a thin film solar cell to facilitate subsequent commercialisation and to attain the cost targets. TECHNICAL APPROACH The project can be divided into three topics. (I) Substrates selection and preparation ; (ii) Deposition of the film of silicon; (iii) Solar Cell processing. Here will be innovation in each topic. Mechanical texturing of the substrate will be used to enhance light confinement. A range of deposition techniques including Hot-Wire CVD, ECR-PECVD, LPCVD and sputtering will be evaluated and in some cases electron beam recrystallisation of the deposited film will be used. The most promising technique will be selected for accelerated development after the mid term assessment. Emphasis in the solar cell processing will be given to low temperature processing using evaporated or electroless contacts rather than the conventional screen printed contacts which require high temperature firing. Supporting the main experimental work are tasks devoted to characterisation and process economics. EXPECTED ACHIEVEMENTS AND EXPLOITATION The project is very much research oriented so that a further development phase will probably be required before fill commercial exploitation can take place. The immediate target is to achieve a solar cell efficiency of greater than 10% on a cell area of 4 cm2 when deposited onto a glass substrate at temperature below 650 C. It is expected that the technology will be capable of achieving a manufacturing module cost of 1 ECU/Wp at a 10 Mwp pa production rate. Given a successful outcome the industrial partner will continue the development. A successful outcome will give a low cost photovoltaic module with the attractive features of silicon in low toxicity, high efficiency capability and good long term stability. The world market for PV is expected to be in excess of 300 Mwp pa by the year 2005 and a successfully developed product could command a major share of that market and stimulate further growth leading to major reductions in CO2 and other pollutant gas emissions. Fields of science social scienceseconomics and businesseconomicsengineering and technologymaterials engineeringcoating and filmsnatural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistrymetalloids Programme(s) FP4-NNE-JOULE C - Specific programme for research and technological development, including demonstration in the field of non-nuclear energy, 1994-1998 Topic(s) 0302 - Solar photovoltaic Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme CSC - Cost-sharing contracts Coordinator BP SOLAR LTD EU contribution No data Address CHERTSEY ROAD TW167XA SUNBURY-ON-THAMES United Kingdom See on map Links Website Opens in new window Total cost No data Participants (6) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE France EU contribution No data Address Route de Saclay Ecole Polytechnique 91128 PALAISEAU See on map Total cost No data Hahn-Meitner-Institut Berlin GmbH Germany EU contribution No data Address Rudower Chaussee 12489 Berlin See on map Total cost No data PAUL SCHERRER INSTITUT Switzerland EU contribution No data Address Wuerenlingen und Villigen 5232 VILLIGEN See on map Total cost No data UNIVERSITAET STUTTGART Germany EU contribution No data Address Pfaffenwaldring 47 70569 STUTTGART See on map Total cost No data UNIVERSITAT DE BARCELONA Spain EU contribution No data Address Marti I Franques 1 08028 BARCELONA See on map Total cost No data UNIVERSITY OF VIENNA Austria EU contribution No data Address 4,Strudlhofgasse 4 1090 WIEN See on map Total cost No data