Application of ribbon silicon solar cells

Can Ribbon silicon reduce solar cell production cost?

Ribbon silicon is one new low cost solar cell material avoiding ingot casting and slicing. It is a promising silicon wafer fabrication technology alternative to traditional ingot casting and slicing. Using ribbon silicon can make solar cell production cost greatly reduced. In this paper EFG, String Ribbon and a novel silicon wafer are discussed.

What is a String Ribbon solar panel?

Each ribbon is then laser-cut into wafers, which go directly onto a belt for the next step in becoming solar cells and ultimately high-efficiency solar panels. In 1994, Evergreen Solar, Inc., began manufacturing crystalline silicon PV modules using the String Ribbon approach.

How efficient are string ribbon cells?

Abstract: We have fabricated 4 cm/sup 2/ cells on string ribbon Si wafers with efficiencies of 17.8% using a combination of laboratory and industrial processes. These are the most efficient string ribbon devices made to date, demonstrating the high quality of the processed silicon and the future potential for industrial string ribbon cells.

Is Ribbon silicon a good alternative to ingot casting and slicing?

Solar cell is one of most important renewable energy. But now it is not be widely used because of its high cost compared with traditional resource. Ribbon silicon is one new low cost solar cell material avoiding ingot casting and slicing. It is a promising silicon wafer fabrication technology alternative to traditional ingot casting and slicing.

How efficient is a 100 m p-type silicon ribbon?

The best solar cell made on the 100 μm thick, p-type silicon ribbon (ϱ = 0.1 Ω cm) was 14.7% efficient. It had a Voc of 639 mV and a fill factor of 0.798 with a Jsc of 28.8 mA/cm 2. Significant increases in lifetime during processing were not unusual.

What is string ribbon?

Evergreen Solar is a new solar cell company that is commercializing a silicon sheet growth method known as String Ribbon, a method for forming continuous polycrystalline silicon ribbon directly from the melt.