I jotted down some notes for my Technology and Architecture class and I'm trying to figure out what i meant when i said 'Treated with gases at extremely high temperatures.' I have NO idea what I was talking about :) Im trying to figure out if what I am talking about is about Silicon, Polychristaline, or a Solar Cell/Panel.
Some steps in making semiconductors use gases at very high temps, and solar cells might.
Let me help you get an idea of what you are talking about as your notes seems a bit jumbled. Mostly when they refer to a silicon solar cell they mean that the silicon is one crystal of silicon. (very much like a diamond, but with atoms of silicon instead of carbon). A single perfect crystal of silicon can be grown that is very large at temperatures near the melting point of silicon or around 400C and then is sawed up to create electronics or solor cells. Polycrystalline :) solar cells are also made of silicon, but instead of a single crystal it is made of a jumble of small crystals that have different sizes and directions. So these types of solar cells can be made using a silicon gas (siline: SiH4) at much lower temperatures 600-700C. So these are less expensive to make, but because they are not perfect crystals a poly solar panel that is the same size as a crystalline solar panel will make less energy. I hope that helps.
Let’s start off and discuss the three main types of photovoltaic (PV) panels: Monocrystalline Solar Panels - Monocrystalline cells are cut from a block of silicon that has been grown from a single crystal.These tend to be the most efficient, but also the most expensive solar panels. They have been considered the go-to panels for the last couple decades, and also boast being the oldest and most dependable. Polycrystalline Solar Panels - Polycrystalline cells are cut from multifaceted silicon crystal. They don’t come from a single piece of silicon crystal, but rather from many different crystals. These solar panels tend to be less efficient than monocrystalline solar panels of the same size. This means a 200 Watt Monocrystalline panel will usually be smaller than a 200 Watt Polycrystalline panel. Thin Film or Amorphous Solar Panels - These panels are not made up of any crystals. They are actually a thin layer of silicon deposited on a substrate or base material like metal or glass. Thin film solar panels tend to be the least efficient per square foot, but they are also the cheapest. The best application for amorphous panels is if you have a large amount of surface area and space doesn’t matter.
