Silicon Research and Technology Workshop report

The materials, structures, processing, modeling and measurements of high efficiency silicon solar cells were surveyed. In the materials area, highlights included: (1) the possibility of improving cell voltages by reducing minority carrier mobilities in critical regions of the solar cells; (2) the need for and possibility of lowering the surface recombination velocity for improvement of open circuit voltage in shallow junction cells; (3) the present need for improved lifetime in high resistivity cells; and (4) the potential for new materials such as polycrystalline or dendritic web material to perform well at end of life in a radiation environment. In the area of structures, distinction was made between those for terrestrial use and those that would survive radiation environments. Areas such as epitaxial growth and laser or elctron beam annealing (and diffusion) were proposed as having certain advantages over more conventional techniques.