Silicon-Based Technologies for Flexible Photovoltaic (PV) Devices: From Basic Mechanism to Manufacturing Technologies

Over the past few decades, silicon-based solar cells have been used in the photovoltaic (PV) industry because of the abundance of silicon material and the mature fabrication process. However, as more electrical devices with wearable and portable functions are required, silicon-based PV solar cells have been developed to create solar cells that are flexible, lightweight, and thin. Unlike flexible PV systems (inorganic and organic), the drawbacks of silicon-based solar cells are that they are difficult to fabricate as flexible solar cells. However, new technologies have emerged for flexible solar cells with silicon. In this paper, we describe the basic energy-conversion mechanism from light and introduce various silicon-based manufacturing technologies for flexible solar cells. In addition, for high energy-conversion efficiency, we deal with various technologies (process, structure, and materials).