A solar cell or photovoltaic cell is a wide area electronic device that converts solar energy into electricity by the photovoltaic effect. Photovoltaic is the field of technology and research related to the application of solar cells for solar energy. Sometimes the term solar cell is reserved for devices intended specifically to capture energy from sunlight, while the term photovoltaic cell is used when the source is unspecified. Assemblies of cells are used to make solar modules, or photovoltaic arrays.
Solar cells have many applications. Cells are used for powering small devices such as electronic calculators. Photovoltaic arrays generate a form of renewable electricity, particularly useful in situations where electrical power from the grid is unavailable such as in remote area power systems, Earth-orbiting satellites and space probes, remote radiotelephones and water pumping applications. Photovoltaic electricity is also increasingly deployed in grid-tied electrical systems. 
 

Single crystal cells are manufactured using a single-crystal growth method and have commercial efficiencies between 15% and 17%. 



Multicrystalline cells, usually manufactured from a melting and solidification process, are less expensive to produce but are marginally less efficient, with conversion efficiencies around 13% to 16%. 



Thin film cells, constructed by depositing extremely thin layers of photovoltaic semi-conductor materials onto a backing material such as glass, stainless steel or plastic, show stable efficiencies in the range of 7 % to 13 %. Thin film materials commercially used are amorphous silicon (a-Si), cadmium telluride (CdTe), and copper-indium-gallium-diselenide (CIGS). 



Commercially available thin film modules:

• Are potentially cheaper to manufacture than crystalline cells
• Have a wider customer appeal as design elements due to their homogeneous appearance
• Present disadvantages, such as low-conversion efficiencies and requiring larger areas of PV arrays and more material (cables, support structures) to produce the same amount of electricity