The solar photovoltaic (PV) industry has continued its rapid growth in recent years despite the economic difficulties, phaseout (or elimination, in some cases) of government subsidy, and issues such as shortage of poly feedstock. Although the expected demand for PV energy has grown to about 38 GW in 2013, there continues to be excess capacity (about 63 GW in 2013). This excess production, combined with increased module efficiencies, has created a precipitous drop in the sales prices. Although a stabilization of prices in the next few years is expected, there is also an expectation of a steeper growth in the PV energy demand. Silicon technology is likely to continue its dominance, but emphasis is changing to higher efficiency technologies based on N-type wafers. At the same time, other technologies based on a-Si, thin film-Si, CIGS, and particularly CdTe are poised for larger share of the PV market.

However, there are many challenges both in R&D and in commercialization. The PV R&D community is working on new materials, device designs, and process tools, while there is a rapid growth in commercial equipment for improved processing and higher throughput. One of the major areas expected to receive much attention is characterization and measurements. In particular, PV industry is keen to implement online monitoring.

This special issue will compile papers on all research aspects of measurements and characterization of photovoltaic materials and devices. We invite researchers, academicians, and industry technologists to contribute original research articles as well as reviews related to various PV technologies such as Si, CdTe, CIGS, organic solar cells, and third-generation solar cells. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• All research aspects related to current materials and solar cells
• Approaches for commercial production, focusing on precursor and feedstock materials, module design and processing, advances in device fabrication, and innovations for device fabrication
• New materials for PV applications, such as organics, quantum dots, and thin-film Si
• Advanced module design and fabrication technologies
• Advanced measurement/characterization methods and instrumentation for in situ measurements, defect monitoring, and process control and performance, reliability testing, and standards

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal’s Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijp/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/submit/journals/ijp/pvmd14/ according to the following timetable: