Amorphous silicon is a glassy form of silicon, one of the most common elements in the earth's crust. It is easy to prepare and it has some special properties which make it very suitable for use in electronic devices like position sensitive detectors, field effect transistors and solar cells. Amorphous silicon can be prepared in several different ways. The silicon produced in this process may be deposited in very thin films on a substrate such as glass, stainless steel or ceramic. This makes amorphous silicon a very promising material for large scale use in thin film solar cells.
Amorphous silicon is a relatively new material.
Although considerable work has been done on it over the past 15 years, there is still a vast amount required. One of its main shortcomings at present is that its properties tend to change under illumination or heating and this can reduce the effectiveness of any device which uses it. Ways need to be found to stabilise the material so that it achieves its full potential. There are almost unlimited potential applications for amorphous thin film semiconductors like hydrogenated amorphous silicon. However, there are still many materials science problems which must be overcome before amorphous semi-conductors achieve their full potential.