Crystalline silicon: the hard cell

Crystalline-silicon solar cells are manufactured starting with the semi-conductor, using pure silicon wafers that have been 'doped' with impurities of phosphorous and boron to create an excess of electrons, and a deficiency of electrons, respectively, to produce the core unit that converts sunlight into electric current.



After the solar cell is fabricated, electrical contacts - which are made from metals such as palladium/silver, nickel or copper that are vacuum-evaporated through a light-sensitive material called 'photo-resist' - are placed to connect one solar cell to another in order to create a larger module.

To reduce the large amount of sunlight lost to reflection off the silicon, an anti-reflective coating is layered on top of the silicon wafers. Most commonly, this coating is made of titanium dioxide and silicon oxide, which is either heated until its molecules boil…

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