太阳能电池,是直接利用太阳能的手段,在50年代以用在人造卫星上为中心进行了开发,当时结晶硅型已实用化。进入60年代以后,出现了非晶硅,1975年非晶硅首次被应用于太阳能电池。结晶型的优点是能量转换率高,现在已达到20％左右,可是存在着成本高和体积最大只能达6英寸等缺点。非晶型的成本低,体积大小无限制,不过能量变换率约10％,很低,即使在实验室也不过13％左右。英国的非晶硅制造厂仅有美国的克罗纳公司(Chronar)所属的绍斯维尔士(South Wealth)工厂。该公司的制造方法是,将1平方英尺或1×3平方英尺的工业用玻璃板作为基材,首先在玻璃板的两边粘贴上带状的银片,然后运用化学气相喷镀法使整个表面形成一层氧化锡的膜,并用激光将有膜的部份分划成约1公分宽的条块。这就是阴极。 Solar cells are a means of directly utilizing solar energy. In the 1950s, they were developed mainly on artificial satellites. At that time, the crystalline silicon type had been put into practical use. Into the 60s, amorphous silicon appeared. In 1975, amorphous silicon was first applied to solar cells. The advantage of the crystal type is that the energy conversion rate is high, and now it has reached about 20%, but there are disadvantages such as high cost and a maximum volume of only 6 inches. Amorphous type has low cost and unlimited size, but the energy conversion rate is about 10%, which is very low, even if it is only about 13% in the laboratory. The UK’s amorphous silicon manufacturing plant is only the South Wealth factory of Chronar, USA. The company’s manufacturing method is to use 1 square foot or 1×3 square foot industrial glass plate as the substrate. Firstly, band-shaped silver plates are affixed on both sides of the glass plate, and then the entire surface is coated by chemical vapor deposition. A tin oxide film was formed, and the film was divided into approximately 1 cm wide strips by a laser. This is the cathode.