Thin-film solar cells are a type of solar cell made by depositing thin layers of photovoltaic material onto a glass, plastic or metal substrate. Thin-film solar cells are typically much thinner than the wafers used in conventional crystalline silicon based solar cells. Thin-film solar cells are commercially made with one of several materials including cadmium telluride (CdTe), copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS), and amorphous thin-film silicon (a-Si, TF-Si). Solar cells are often classified into generations based on the kinds of light-absorbing layers used to make them. The most well-established or first-generation solar cells are made of single- or multi-crystalline silicon. This is the dominant technology currently used in most solar PV systems. Most types of thin-film solar cells are classified as second generation, made using thin layers of materials like amorphous silicon (a-Si), cadmium telluride (CdTe), copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS), or gallium arsenide (GaAs). Solar cells made with newer, less established materials are classified as third-generation or emerging solar cells. This includes some innovative thin-film technologies, such as perovskite, dye-sensitized, quantum dot, organic, and CZTS thin-film solar cells. Thin-film cells have several advantages over first-generation silicon solar cells, including being lighter and more flexible due to their thin construction. This makes them suitable for use in building-integrated photovoltaics and as semi-transparent photovoltaic glazing material that can be laminated onto windows. Other commercial applications use rigid thin film solar panels (interleaved between two panes of glass) in some of the world's largest photovoltaic power stations. Additionally, the materials used in thin-film solar cells are typically produced using simple and scalable methods more cost-effective than first-generation cells, leading to lower environmental impacts like greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in many cases. Thin-film cells also typically outperform renewable and non-renewable sources for electricity generation in terms of human toxicity and heavy-metal emissions. Despite initial challenges with efficient light conversion, especially among third-generation PV materials, as of 2023 some thin-film solar cells have reached efficiencies of up to 29.1% for single-junction thin-film GaAs cells, exceeding the maximum of 26.1% efficiency for standard single-junction first-generation solar cells. Multi-junction concentrator cells incorporating thin-film technologies have reached efficiencies of up to 47.6% as of 2023.
Many thin-film technologies have been found to have shorter operational lifetimes and larger degradation rates than first-generation cells in accelerated life testing, which has contributed to their somewhat limited deployment. Globally, the PV market share of thin-film technologies remains around 5% as of 2023. However, thin-film technology has become considerably more popular in the United States, where CdTe cells alone accounted for 29% of new utility-scale deployment in 2021.
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