Different generation solar cell technologies (evaluation and comparison)

Solar energy is one of the best possible solutions that can be applied as renewable energy resources. In recent years¡ few technologies are used for manufacturing of solar cells. In the first-generation solar cell is mainly made by crystalline silicon wafer with 300-400 µm thickness. In the second and third technologies fabrication of solar cells is based on the deposition of semiconductors on the glass¡ metal or polymer substrates. The thickness of these coating is around 3-5 µm. The cost of raw materials in second and third technologies is less than the first generation. Moreover¡ the size of these solar cells is approximately 100 times larger than the first one. It should be noted that the efficiency of the first generation in comparison to the other technologies are high due to the high quality raw materials which are used in the fabrication. It is expected that the differences between the efficiency of these for technologies will be decreased by the time and other technologies will be replaced by the first generation. In this research¡ the structure of different technologies has been studied and the possible methods for improvement of the solar cells efficiency have been introduced.