Thin film silicon solar cells in a semi-transparent micro-structured metal substrate configuration

We present our work on the combination of thin film silicon solar cells and a commercial window shading device (MicroShadeTM, PhotoSolar) into a novel, glass integrated photovoltaic product for building integration. The development of amorphous silicon solar cells (a-Si:H) on the MicroShadeTM substrates was carried out following two simultaneous paths; First the deposition process for a-Si:H solar cells on this new perforated substrate was investigated and modified in order to achieve higher efficiency devices; Then the authors tackled adhesion and shunt issues that appeared on this new substrate. The deposition of solar cells on this semi-transparent structure was demonstrated to be feasible and we fabricated solar cells with an initial efficiency of 5.86% for a cell size of 450mm2.