Materials for Thin-Film Silicon Photovoltaics

Table of Contents

Executive Summary

• E.1 Introduction: Innovation in Thin-Film Silicon PV
  • E.1.1 Current Amorphous Silicon Cells and Near-Term Innovations
  • E.1.2 Nanocrystalline Silicon, Silicon Nanowires, Silicon Quantum Dots and Silicon Inks
• E.2 Opportunities for Materials Firms in Thin-Film Silicon PV
• E.3 Opportunities for Manufacturing Firms in Thin-Film Silicon PV
  • E.3.1 Opportunities for Amorphous Silicon Manufacturing Firms
• E.4 Key Firms to Watch in the Thin-Film Silicon Materials Business
  • E.4.1 Amorphous Silicon Manufacturing Firms using Established Technology
  • E.4.2 Start-up Companies Leveraging Next-Generation Silicon PV Technology (Silicon Inks, Si Nanoparticles, Si Quantum Dots and Si Nanowires)
• E.5 Summary of Forecasts
  • E.5.1 Alternative Scenarios

Chapter One: Introduction

• 1.1 Background to This Report
  • 1.1.1 Amorphous Silicon' s Opportunity in the PV Landscape
  • 1.1.2 Cost Sensitive Application Advantages of Thin-Film Silicon PV
  • 1.1.3 Future Advantages of a-Si
• 1.2 Objectives and Scope of this Report
• 1.3 Methodology of this Report
• 1.4 Plan of this Report

Chapter Two: Materials and Technology for Thin-Film Silicon PV

• 2.1 Introduction: Current Position of Thin-Film Silicon PV Solutions
  • 2.1.1 Manufacturing Lessons from the Semiconductor Industry
  • 2.1.2 Manufacturing Lessons from the Display Industry
  • 2.1.3 Roll-to-Roll Manufacturing Roadmap
  • 2.1.4 Is There Still a Silicon Shortage?
  • 2.1.5 Off-the-Shelf Equipment vs. Internally Developed Equipment
• 2.2 Amorphous Silicon PV Materials Roadmap
  • 2.2.1 Trends in Cell Architectures
  • 2.2.2 Materials Used in a-Si Cells: Current Materials and Future Innovations
• 2.3 Micro-Crystalline Silicon PV Materials Roadmap
  • 2.3.1 Trends in Cell Architectures
  • 2.3.2 Materials Used in μc-Si Cells: Current Materials and Future Innovations
• 2.4 Nano-Crystalline Silicon PV Materials Roadmap
  • 2.4.1 Trends in Cell Architectures
  • 2.4.2 Materials Used in nc-Si Cells: Current Materials and Future Innovations
• 2.5 Nanostructured Silicon PV Materials Roadmap
  • 2.5.1 Nanowires
  • 2.5.2 Si Quantum Dot-Based Devices
  • 2.5.3 Other CVD Deposited Silicon Devices
• 2.6 Other Materials-Related Innovations and Developments
  • 2.6.1 Silicon Inks
  • 2.6.2 Silicon Film Solutions
  • 2.6.3 Silicon Slivers
• 2.7 Conductors for Contacts and Reflectors
  • 2.7.1 Transparent Conductors
  • 2.7.2 The Role of Silver
• 2.8 Substrate Materials
  • 2.8.1 Glass
  • 2.8.2 Flexible Substrates
• 2.9 Key Points from this Chapter

Chapter Three: Company Profiles

• 3.1 Amorphous Silicon PV Manufacturers
  • 3.1.1 Energy Conversion Devices
  • 3.1.2 Fuji Electric Systems
  • 3.1.3 Kaneka
  • 3.1.4 Mitsubishi Electric
  • 3.1.5 Sanyo
  • 3.1.6 Sharp
  • 3.1.7 United Solar Ovonic
  • 3.1.8 XsunX
  • 3.1.9 PowerFilm
  • 3.1.10 EPV SOLAR
  • 3.1.11 General Electric
  • 3.1.12 RWE Schott Solar
  • 3.1.13 Sunfilm
  • 3.1.14 Auria Solar
  • 3.1.15 NexPower
  • 3.1.16 Inventux
  • 3.1.17 ersol
• 3.2 Vendors of a-Si Manufacturing Equipment and Chemical Suppliers
  • 3.2.1 Applied Materials
  • 3.2.2 Oerlikon Solar
  • 3.2.3 Ulvac
  • 3.2.4 Leybold Optics
  • 3.2.5 Tokyo Electron
  • 3.2.6 EnergoSolar
  • 3.2.7 Spire Global Solar
  • 3.2.8 Dow Corning
  • 3.2.9 Air Liquide
  • 3.2.10 Evonik Degussa
  • 3.2.11 Linde Group
  • 3.2.12 DuPont
  • 3.2.13 Voltaix
  • 3.2.14 Praxair
  • 3.2.15 REC Group
• 3.3 Companies with PV Materials Innovations
  • 3.3.1 Innovalight
  • 3.3.2 NanoPV
  • 3.3.3 NanoGram
  • 3.3.4 SunFlake
  • 3.3.5 Solexant
  • 3.3.6 VHF Technologies
  • 3.3.7 Nuon Helianthos
  • 3.3.8 Solasta
  • 3.3.9 Solexel

Chapter Four: Eight-Year Forecasts of a-Si Materials Markets

• 4.1 Forecasting Methodology
  • 4.1.1 Data Sources
  • 4.1.2 High Growth vs. Economic Stagnation scenarios
  • 4.1.3 Abundant vs. Scarce Fossil Fuel Scenarios
  • 4.1.4 Effects of Subsidies
• 4.2 Eight-Year Forecast of Materials Used in Thin-Film Silicon PV
  • 4.2.1 Amorphous Silicon
  • 4.2.2 Absorber Layer
  • 4.2.3 Substrates
  • 4.2.4 Contact Layers
  • 4.2.5 Nanosilicon Materials
  • 4.2.6 Nanostructured Materials
  • 4.2.7 Forecast Summary
• Acronyms and Abbreviations Used In this Report
• About the Author

List of Exhibits

• Exhibit E-1 Impact on TFPV Market of Current Financial Environment
• Exhibit E-2 Worldwide Market for Thin-Film Si TFPV Cells
• Exhibit E-3 Worldwide Revenue from a-Si PV Materials ($ Millions)
• Exhibit 2-1 Substrate Type PIN Cell
• Exhibit 2-2 Superstrate Type PIN Cell
• Exhibit 2-3 Phase Diagram of a-Si
• Exhibit 4-1 Worldwide Market for a-Si TFPV Cells
• Exhibit 4-2 Bill of Materials for a-Si TFPV (Percent)
• Exhibit 4-3 Revenue from Materials ($ Millions)
• Exhibit 4-4 Substrate Materials Used for a-Si TFPV
• Exhibit 4-5 Top Contact by Material Type
• Exhibit 4-6 Worldwide Market for Back Contact of a-Si TFPV by Material Type
• Exhibit 4-7 Worldwide Market for nc-Si TFPV Cells
• Exhibit 4-8 Worldwide Market for Nanostructured Si TFPV Cells
• Exhibit 4-9 Worldwide Market for Thin-Film Si TFPV Cells