Advanced photovoltaic (PV) technologies such as diamond wire and n-type substrates will increasingly find their way into mainstream solar manufacturing in the near future, according to market researcher IHS. The move is expected to coincide with a new spending cycle as manufacturers transition from standardised technologies to next-generation mechanisms for solar-related mass production. Capital spending will reach an expected $3.4 billion by year-end, IHS believes, after bottoming out in 2013. Solar technology changes will also extend to p-type substrates, which have generally been the solar industry norm. However, significant R&D is being conducted on n-type silicon, shown to have a higher tolerance to common impurities and resulting in high minority carrier diffusion lengths compared to p-type. N-type crystalline does not suffer from the boron-oxygen-related light-induced degradation that is common on p-type Czochralski silicon. The analyst company forecasts that n-type applications will mature and find their way into mainstream manufacturing. N-type will be mostly a monocrystalline technology, growing from 5% of total cell production capacity last year to approximately 32% by 2020. http://www.ihs.com

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