1c-Si

Solar-Tectic LLC presents a method of manufacturing single crystal silicon thin-films on ordinary glass over a large area, thus allowing for the commercialization of single crystal silicon thin-film solar cells for the first time.

Dartmouth College researchers at the Thayer School of Engineering have invented a break-through technology which allows single-crystal thin-films (composed of either Si, or Ge, or GaAs, CdTe, CIGS, etc) to be monolithically fabricated on large-area amorphous substrates such as ordinary glass and at a cost that is orders of magnitude lower than the price of manufacturing crystalline silicon solar cells (or c-Si).

The new technology is monolithic since it does not “glue” the single crystal layer to the substrate via complicated bonding techniques and intricate control.  Compared to existing thin-film solar cell materials, this invention can increase efficiency by ~2x due to a significant improvement in material quality.

The invention came out of a Dartmouth College Sponsored Research Agreement with Solar-Tectic LLC, initially inspired by a related technology disclosed by the late Dr. Praveen Chaudhari, renowned materials scientist and winner of the National Medal of Technology.

Solar-Tectic LLC has been granted an exclusive world-wide license and is currently seeking to sub-license this technology.  An evaluation license is also being offered.