Objective
SUMMARY
Silicon solar cells are not economically competitive when compared with other energy sources due to the expensive solar grade silicon material. The main objective of the SCARF project is to provide a thin filmsilicon solar cell on a cheap silicon substrate by means of the Liquid Phase Epitaxy (LPE) technique.
The project co-ordinator Elkem/Norway is the world's lading supplier of silicon metal (MG-Si) to the chemical and the electronic industries. The company will take on the task to engineer and produce an upgraded low-cost metallurgical silicon. This material will then be cast/crystallized by three of the project partners:
* Eurosolare/Italy will use the Bridgman crystallizer.
* Institute for Crystal Growth (IKZ)/Germany will use the floating zone technique.
* Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer-ISE)/Germany will produce Silicon Sheet from Powder (SSP).
The blocks/ingots will thereafter be cut into wafers by Eurosolare and IKZ. The silicon sheet will be provided with a surface texture at the University of Konstanz (UKN)/Germany.
The partners IKZ and UKN will provide the wafers/SSP's with a thin film of silicon by two different LPE techniques. Fraunhofer-ISE, Eurosolare, and UKN will make solar cells from these thin films of silicon on the silicon substrater and Eurosolare will also make modules.
Fraunhofer-ISE and UKN will characterize the solar cells.
Finally, the Institute of Energy Technology (IFE)/Norway will asses the economic benefits of the solar cells developed by this project.
Fields of science
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
4675 KRISTIANSAND
Norway