Progress on the continuous optical fast CVD system to grow silicon ribbons for solar cells via SDS process

In this paper we present the progress on the development of the Continuous Optical Fast CVD (COFCVD) system based on the Silicon on Dust Substrate (SDS) process. The SDS process is a ribbon technology, where ribbons are grown on top of a silicon dust substrate, directly from a gas precursor, silane. Besides the advantages of avoiding kerf losses, the growth of silicon ribbons directly from a gaseous feedstock has the benefit of bypassing also unnecessary crystallization processes such as the Siemens process (see Figure 1).