A novel route to a polycrystalline silicon thin-film solar cell

An alternative approach is described for the fabrication of a polycrystalline silicon thin-film solar cell on inexpensive substrates. In a first step amorphous silicon is recrystallized in an aluminum-induced crystallization process forming a large-grained polycrystalline silicon layer on glass or metal substrates. In a second step this layer is used as a template for epitaxial growth of the absorber layer (2–3 μm thick) at T