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The European Commission Project PolySiMode
Improved Polycrystalline-Silicon Modules on Glass Substrates
Since December 2009, the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH, Institut Silizium-Photovoltaik, is participant of the European Commission project PolySiMode.
The aim of this project is to improve the efficiency and the cost-effectiveness of thin-film polysilicon solar modules. Thin-film polysilicon solar cells have recently emerged as a promising thin-film alternative to bulk crystalline Si. With Solid Phase Crystallization (SPC) of amorphous Si, CSG Solar AG recently achieved mini-modules with an efficiency of around 10%, matching the efficiencies of the best European micromorph mini-modules.
The project partners are:
- Interuniversitair Mikro-Elektronik Centrum (IMEC), Leuven, B
- CSG Solar AG, Thalheim, D
- Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
- Fyzikalni ustav Akademie ved Ceske republiky, v.v.i. (FZU), Prague, CZ
- Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH (HZB), Berlin, D
- Institut d'Electronique du Solide et des Systèmes (InESS), Strasbourg, F
The efficiency of polysilicon modules will be enhanced in this project by improvement of the crystallographic and electronic quality of the polysilicon material and by the develoment of advanced new methods for light confinement. By in-depth characterization of the polysilicon material, a better understanding of the relationship between the processing parameters, the electrical and optical properties of the material and the resulting device properties will be obtained. The main goals are to have large-area polysilicon modules with an efficiency of 12% and with a cost of 0.7 Euro per Watt peak at the end of the project. The active participation of CSG within this project will allow the consortium to produce module demonstrators by using the pilot line of CSG and also to accurately determine the effect of newly developed process steps on the cost-effectiveness of polysilicon modules. Throughout the project, advanced material characterization techniques were applied to provide appropriate feedback to the experimental efforts.
