Development of silicon solar cells and silicon epilayers for photovoltaic applications in South Africa

Abstract

Thin crystalline silicon epilayers were grown in a rotating liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) graphite boat. The epilayers were grown from a saturated indium solution, on single-crystal (100) boron-doped Si substrates, using the equilibrium cooling technique. The efficiency of solar cells can be improved, since LPE has the potential to produce good quality thin crystalline layers. LPE is a cheap and simple technique, and coupling it with layer deposition on inexpensive substrates could possibly provide the solution to lowering the overall cost/kW h of power generation.