Joao M. Serra*, C. Pinto, Miguel C. Brito, Jorge Maia Alves, Killian Lobato, Antonio Vallera

DEGGE/SESUL University of Lisbon
Campo Grande ED-C8, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal
Corresponding Author, imserra@fc. ul. pt

Abstract

A lot of research has been done to try to reduce the costs of solar cells by developing ribbon growth techniques that bypass the ingot/wafering step. The SDS-Silicon on Dust Substrate process, here described, is a technique to produce ribbons directly from the gas phase. Test solar cells were fabricated on SDS ribbons as a demonstration of concept of this new technique. Keywords: Photovoltaics; Solar Cells; Ribbons

1. Introduction

A lot of effort has gone into reducing the costs of solar cells by bypassing the ingot/wafering process, which is currently the dominant industrial process. Early on it was realised that such a wasteful process could be avoided by the direct preparation of silicon sheet by ribbon growth techniques [1][2]. The SDS-Silicon on Dust Substrate process, described here, is a new method for the growth of silicon ribbons for photovoltaic applications.