By Heather A.S.Platt, Senior Scientist, National Renewable Energy Laboratory; Maikel F.A.M. van Hest, Senior Scientist, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
With the never-ending need to reduce production costs, interest in atmospheric deposition techniques is steadily increasing. Even though atmospheric deposition is not new to photovoltaics, and in some cases is actually required to get the best cell performance, many of the fabrication processes for photovoltaic cells are vacuum-based. Due to the diversity in atmospheric deposition techniques available, there are opportunities for applications in thin film and patterned deposition. This paper discusses some of the deposition techniques and their applications, benefits and drawbacks.
