Overview:

Product Description:

Amorphous Silicon (a-Si):  This thin-film technology avoids forming the crystal lattice, as in crystalline silicon, by being passivated. This occurs by introducing hydrogen gas into the Si bond structure, which prevents the formation of tetrahedral bonds, or four Si atoms bonding to each other.  One main advantage of a-Si over crystalline Si is that it is much more uniform over large areas. Because it is naturally full of defects, any other impurities will not have as great an effect on performance. Another advantage of a-Si is that it can be deposited at much lower temperatures (75°C) than crystalline Si, which allows for more variety in substrates, particularly flexible plastics.

a-Si basics:

• Payback period similar to other thin-film technologies, about 2 years.
• Typical cell efficiency = 5 – 8%
• Suffers serious degradation due to light exposure. (This levels off at about a 20% decrease in efficiency)

Australian Manufacturers of a-Si PV modules:

Availability:

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