ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we provide a brief introduction to (i) solar cell basic physics together with a description of the common and advanced characterization and performance evaluation techniques and (ii) the main types of solar cell technologies being currently used and studied. The chapter is completed by a section dedicated to transparent conductive materials, a key component of photovoltaic solar cells. The last part gives an introduction to spatial atomic layer deposition (SALD), a recent variation of ALD allowing processing without vacuum and at high deposition rates and that has proved to be a very useful tool for fabricating solar cell components.
