Abstract
Fabrication of crystalline silicon thin-film solar cells (CSiTFSC’s) on foreign substrates (non-silicon materials) has been studied at various photovoltaic research institutes. The primary motivation behind the use of foreign substrates is to significantly reduce the consumption of solar-grade silicon, and that use may also completely eradicate the need for wafer production by sawing. The impact of foreign substrates as a substitute is significant in terms of savings in comparison to conventional production of silicon-based solar cells in the photovoltaic industry. High temperature crystalline silicon film deposition is favorable for increasing the efficiency of CSiTFSC’s on carbon based ceramics substrates. High-temperature processes provide an opportunity to deposit silicon films with larger grain sizes at higher deposition rates. Graphite and silicon-carbide substrates containing elemental carbon have been studied. Thus far, efficiencies in the range of 13.4% for graphite and 15% for silicon-carbide substrates have been demonstrated. A detailed overview of the processes adopted for solar-cell implementation on carbon substrates is addressed in the literature.