According to iSuppli Corporation, thin-film solar cells are rapidly capturing the market share that crystal technology have by 2013,such as Dell latitude d600 battery . the PV part will be more double than the number of watts. solar panels in the global market, the efficiency of thin film will be from 14% in 2008 to 31% by 2013.
“First Solar has a strong proof of the viability of thin-film market(take the Dell inspiron e1505 battery for example )the company jumped the world’s largest manufacturer of solar panels this year, production is more than one billion watts.” ISuppli’s research director GregSheppard said, “At the same time, the company has already reduced per-watt the cost of production down to less than 90 cents a silicon crysta,it l is about half of the module manufacturer. ”
Crystal and thin-film
Most solar panels made from crystalline silicon, using 180-230 micron polysilicon. On the contrary, thin-film panels is made of other materials through the deposition of multi-layer substrate , the thickness is a few microns. The main difference between the two technologies lies in the efficiency and cost of electricity per watt. when thin-film panel convert the sunlight into electricity,the efficience is lower , but its production costs are significantly lower,like the Dell inspiron 6400 battery .
It is noteworthy that the film have a disadvantage in the limited installation space , such as residential roofing. Film installation may need more space to account for 15-40% of the crystalline silicon to achieve the same with the overall system power output. This tends to limit its activities in certain application areas more attractive.
Price comparison
Thin-film modules are expected next year, the average price will drop to 1.40 U.S. dollars, it is lower than in 2009 for 1.70 dollars ,such as Dell inspiron 6000 battery . In 2010 the average price of crystalline silicon panels are expected to fall to 2.00 dollars, 2.50 U.S. dollars this year.
iSuppli Corporation predicts that crystalline silicon will narrow the price gap to a certain extent by 2012 , because its suppliers are financially strong, they continue capital expenditures and technology development ,and has invested heavily in improving production processes.
Variety of thin film technology
Most of these techniques rely on chemical vapor deposition (CVD), or derived from the screen printing process, the layers of material deposited on different substrates, namely glass and various plastics. Some of the recent use of inkjet printing technology, like ways to more quickly deposited materials.
Another factor which promote the accelerated development of thin film technology is the use of materials, some companies provide more production lines, such as Oerlikon, and Centrotherm package,and Sony np-qm91 company.
There are a variety of thin-film photovoltaic technology. They are mostly less than 10% efficiency, although some technology can be efficient through experiments up to the middle class. Some of these technologies are referred to as a single node, using a diode. Recent developments in the use of multiple nodes with each other superimposed together, also known as tandem and three knots, so by using different materials or combinations wider absorption spectrum of knot.
