This book provides a review of all types of silicon solar cells. The scope includes monocrocrystalline Si solar cells, polycrystalline and amorphous thin-film silicon solar cells, and tandem solar cells. Production, treatment and development of these devices are reviewed. Limitations of these devices, design optimization, testing and fabrication methods are covered. In addition, current status and future prospects for the further development of silicon solar cells are addressed. Special emphasis is given to methods of attaining high efficiency and thereby cost-effective solar power. The aim of the book is to provide the reader with a complete overview about the recent advances in the structure and technology of all generations of silicon solar cells.

The world of today must face up to two contradictory energy problems: on the one hand, there is the sharply growing consumer demand in countries such as China and India. On the other hand, natural resources are dwindling. Moreover, many of those countries which still possess substantial gas and oil supplies are politically unstable. As a result, renewable natural energy sources have received great attention. Among these, solar-cell technology is one of the most promising candidates. However, there still remains the problem of the manufacturing costs of such cells. Many attempts have been made to reduce the production costs of “conventional” solar cells (manufactured from monocrystalline silicon using diffusion methods) by instead using cheaper grades of silicon, and simpler pn-junction fabrication. That is the ‘hero’ of this book; the heterojunction solar cell.

The book presents a comprehensive survey about advanced solar cell technologies. Focus is placed on semiconductor materials, solar cell efficiency, improvements in surface recombination velocity, charge density, high ultraviolet (UV) sensitivity, modeling of solar cells etc. The book references 281 original resources with their direct web links for in-depth reading. Keywords: Solar Cells, Thin Film Solar Cells, Solar Cell Efficiency, Semiconductor Materials, Surface Recombination Velocity, Charge Density, High UV Sensitivity, Heavily-doped Silicon Wafers, Amorphous Semiconductors, Nanocrystalline Semiconductors, Field Effect, Ferroelectric Semiconductors, Solar Cell Modelling.