Manufacture of Si ribbons by the S-web-technique

The S-web technique was developed for the high-throughput production of sheet Si for low-cost crystalline solar cells. A pilot unit was installed to demonstrate continuous Si ribbon growth. With this machine, Si ribbons have been grown continuously at a speed of 1 m/min up to a length of 145 m; the width was 11-12 cm. A maximum pulling speed of 2 m/min has been achieved. Test solar cells of S-web ribbons pulled with a laboratory unit have efficiencies up to >12%, large-area standard cells have efficiencies of up to 9.8%. A module made of such standard cells had a mean cell efficiency of 9%