solar panel manufacturing

The flowchart illustrates the steps involved in manufacturing a PV solar panel. Overall, the process involves four main stages, starting with the raw materials and ending with the final PV solar panel product. First of all, silicon quartz is placed into an electric arc furnace which produces carbon dioxide and molten silicon. This molten silicon is then further treated to yield rods of pure silicon. In the next stage, a circular saw is used to cut the rods into very thin wafers, which are subsequently polished to remove the saw marks. Following this, after the wafers are stuck together, they undergo a process called ‘doping’, in which they have small amounts of boron and phosphorus added to them. The surface of the wafers are also treated with an anti-reflective coating to ensure maximum absorption of sunlight. In the final stage, the solar cells are encapsulated in silicon rubber, before assembling them into an aluminium frame to make the finished product.