Progress in amorphous and nanocrystalline silicon solar cells

The last two decades have witnessed tremendous progress in the science and technology of amorphous and nanocrystalline siliconbased photovoltaic. Advances in the understanding of materials and devices have led manufacturers to expand their production capacity; the production of solar panels based on this technology exceeded 40 MW in 2004. Hydrogen dilution in the active gas mixture during deposition has played a key role in improving the quality of the materials and the performance of the devices in both the amorphous and the nanocrystalline regimes. In this paper we shall review the properties of the optimum material for device application, and discuss the production status. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.