NREL is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy 

Efficiency & Renewable Energy, operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.

Contract No. DE-AC36-08GO28308

Development of Commercial 

Technology for Thin Film Silicon 

Solar Cells on Glass

Cooperative Research and 

Development Final Report

CRADA Number: CRD-07-209

NREL Technical Contact: Bhushan Sopori

CRADA Report

NREL/TP-7A10-57655

March 2013
NOTICE

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Cooperative Research and Development Final Report

In accordance with Requirements set forth in Article XI.A(3) of the CRADA document, this document is 

the final CRADA report, including a list of Subject Inventions, to be forwarded to the Office of Science 

and Technical Information as part of the commitment to the public to demonstrate results of federally 

funded research.

CRADA Number: CRD-07-209

CRADA Title: Development of Commercial Technology for Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells on 

Glass

Parties to the Agreement: Applied Optical Sciences Corporation

Joint Work Statement Funding Table showing DOE commitment: 

Estimated Costs NREL Shared Resources

Year 1 $ 50,000.00

Year 2 $ 870,000.00

Year 3 $ 245,000.00

TOTALS $ 1,165,000.00

Abstract of CRADA work: 

NREL has conducted basic research relating to high efficiency, low cost, thin film silicon solar cell design 

and the method of making solar cells. Two patents have been issued to NREL in the above field. In 

addition, specific process and metrology tools have been developed by NREL. Applied Optical Sciences 

Corp. (AOS) has expertise in the manufacture of solar cells and has developed its own unique 

concentrator technology. AOS wants to complement its solar cell expertise and its concentrator 

technology by manufacturing flat panel thin film silicon solar cell panels. AOS wants to take NREL’s 

research to the next level, using it to develop commercially viable flat pane, thin film silicon solar cell 

panels. Such a development in equipment, process, and metrology will likely produce the lowest cost 

solar cell technology for both commercial and residential use. NREL’s fundamental research capability 

and AOS’s technology and industrial background are complementary to achieve this product 

development.

Summary of Research Results: 

We developed a new optical furnace (Optical Cavity Furnace) that uses reflecting surfaces and no 

cooling for fabricating solar cells and microelectronic devices. This furnace is very highly energy 

efficient. This furnace was used to crystallize amorphous silicon. One of the new applications is to 

rapidly grow a thin junction on crystalline silicon wafers by depositing a thin layer of amorphous silicon 

and crystallizing it by an epitaxial growth.
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Subject Inventions Listing: 

U.S. Application No. 13/793,626, filed March 11, 2103, entitled “Semiconductor Device PN Junction 

Fabrication 

Report Date: 1/23/2013 Responsible Technical Contact at Alliance/NREL: Bhushan Sopori

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