The value proposition for high lifetime (p-type) and thin silicon materials in solar PV applications

Most silicon PV road maps forecast a continued reduction in wafer thickness, despite rapid declines in the primary incentive for doing so - polysilicon feedstock price. Another common feature of most silicon-technology forecasts is the quest for ever-higher device performance at the lowest possible costs. The authors present data from device-performance and manufacturing- and system-installation cost models to quantitatively establish the incentives for manufacturers to pursue advanced (thin) wafer and (high efficiency) cell technologies, in an age of reduced feedstock prices. This analysis exhaustively considers the value proposition for high lifetime (p-type) silicon materials across the entire c-Si PV supply chain.