Manufacturing technology of amorphous and nanocrystalline silicon solar cells

The last two decades have witnessed tremendous progress in the science and technology of amorphous and nanocrystalline silicon-based 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 85 MW in 2006. In this paper we shall review the properties of the optimum material for device application, the cell design to obtain high efficiency, the manufacturing technology and the production status.