Abstract
We provide a review and analysis of research on crystalline silicon thin-film solar cells (CSiTFSCs) on ceramic substrates. The use of foreign substrates (non-silicon materials) for the processing of crystalline silicon solar cells could potentially decrease solar-grade silicon consumption and significantly reduce module costs. In order to enhance the efficiency potential of CSiTFSCs on ceramic substrates, high-temperature silicon film deposition is favored. High-quality electronic-grade silicon films are intended to be deposited at higher temperature as it can help increase both deposition rates and grain sizes. The potential low-cost ceramic substrates have some major restrictions in terms of cell processing technology at high temperatures. In this paper, an overview of the research on thin-film solar-cell technologies on ceramic substrates is presented. Major processing steps for CSiTFSC such as substrate/intermediate layer requirements and silicon thin-film deposition at high temperatures will be discussed. So far, devices have been demonstrated with efficiencies up to 13.4% on graphite, 8.2% on mullite, and 9.4% on silicon nitride (Si3N4) ceramic substrates.