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SUMMARY:International Workshop on Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells (IWTFSSC-4
 ) 
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20120319
DTSTAMP:20260506T143936Z
UID:9b94d9eca556e714c7db2eeda61e72f11f823991f0cd3d9b123f323a
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:From March 19-23\, 2012\, the Fourth International Workshop on
  Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells (IWTFSSC-4) will be held at Hôtel Beaulac 
 in Neuchâtel\, Switzerland (the last workshop was in 2010\, in Nagasaki\,
  Japan.\n\nThe workshop will consist of invited talks and panel discussion
 s on the present status and future prospects of thin-film silicon technolo
 gies. The number of participants will be limited to about 100 and will inc
 lude the most renowned international experts.\n\nDriven by an increasing d
 emand for PV\, a shortage of crystalline silicon and the availability of t
 urn-key production lines\, thin-film silicon solar cells have attracted a 
 lot of attention over the past few years. Many companies invested in mass 
 production lines for a-Si and a-Si/μc-Si solar modules\, but also faced s
 trong challenges while ramping up their production\, as the prices of othe
 r products went down. Market pressure is now forcing each technology to im
 prove production costs and further increase module efficiency. The potenti
 al of thin-film silicon to contribute significantly to meeting world energ
 y demand remains intact\, however\, due to the uniqueness of the technolog
 y. Only small quantities of abundant and non-toxic materials are used\, yi
 elding no risk of supply chain shortage and excellent environmental perfor
 mance.\n\nEven though there was impressive growth of thin-film silicon man
 ufacturing capacity in recent years and fantastic efforts were made to bri
 ng the technology to maturity\, many important issues remain. These includ
 e high deposition rates or very low cost processes\, large area uniformity
 \, reactor cleaning and uptime\, optical confinement\, laser scribing and 
 increased efficiency. To stay ahead of competing technologies\, it will be
  important to address more fundamental and longer-term issues as well\, su
 ch as photodegradation of a-Si\, very high current cells\, triple cells\, 
 new structures and materials\, and advanced TCOs and superstrates.\n\nIt i
 s the aim of this workshop to address these and other topics\, and to faci
 litate discussion among experts in an informal atmosphere. In the final da
 ys of the workshop\, a joint session with common topics with a-Si/c-Si het
 erojunction devices will take place.\n\nComplete program on http://iwtfssc
 4.epfl.ch/
LOCATION:Hôtel Beaulac in Neuchâtel
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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