A look at crystalline silicon and thin film batteries based on current technology and cost

Roughly speaking, there are two types of solar cells. That is, crystalline silicon type and thin film type. However, at the current stage, from the perspective of technology and cost, it can be said that both have their own advantages and disadvantages.

Thin film battery

Nearly all of the ordinary solar panels that are densely installed on the roofs of single-family houses are made of silicon wafers and are called crystalline silicon type products. The battery units made by processing multiple wafers are arranged together to form a solar cell module. Although this method has high electrical conversion efficiency for sunlight, the cost of raw materials is relatively high. Compared with the crystalline silicon type, the thin film type has lower material costs and is easier to mass produce, so it is possible to significantly reduce manufacturing costs. At that time, the low conversion efficiency of sunlight was the current difficulty.

It is understood that the solar cell market will continue to be dominated by the previous crystalline silicon type (c-Si). However, if cheap thin-film solar cells are put on the market in large quantities through mass production, then the thin-film type is expected to keep pace with the crystalline silicon type market and achieve large-scale market expansion.

Crystalline silicon battery

Thin-film solar cells have a high cost advantage because they are easy to mass-produce. However, it is difficult to call it perfect with the current conversion efficiency. Thin film solar cells will not be competitive if they cannot achieve the minimum conversion efficiency of “10%”.

In addition, there is room for improvement in manufacturing technology such as film formation technology on thin film films using silicon materials. In order to steadily occupy the market through various improvements in product technology and manufacturing technology such as simplifying the number of manufacturing processes or shortening manufacturing time, continuous efforts must be made.

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