Amorphous silicon

Could amorphous silicon (a-Si) solar panels be a good way to replace fossil fuels on a massive world scale? Maybe.

This page is to assess the viability of manufacturing approximately enough a-Si solar panels to cover every rooftop in the world.

Considerations

Scarce minerals

Probably avoidable

a-Si solar panels can probably be manufactured with very little rare-mineral content.^{[RESEARCH needed]} Performance efficiency would be low but production would be far more scaleable.

Note that germanium-based options (aSiGe) would not be scaleable enough.
If copper is too scarce, some internal wiring could probably be replaced with aluminum (far more abundant) if we're willing to give up some efficiency.^{[QUANTIFICATION needed - how much loss? hopefully not a lot]}
Do a-Si cells need to have silver in them? Or is that only for crystalline silicon panels? ^{[RESEARCH needed]}
Solar panels often contain lead-based solder, which isn't too scarce but is toxic and could create problems in the long run as old solar panels eventually must be disposed of. Wikipedia says that the lead could be replaced with other types of solder.^{[ELABORATION needed]}
So essentially, make a lot of cheap panels from mostly silicon and aluminum (both extremely abundant minerals).

Efficiency

Low but probably good enough

If it's 6% without scarce minerals^{[RESEARCH needed]} then that would be enough for rooftop solar if all rooftops are covered.

Energy in manufacturing

Probably reasonable

Less energy-intensive than crystalline silicon, but probably still somewhat energy-intensive. ^{[QUANTIFICATION needed - EROI]}

Lifespan

^{[RESEARCH needed]}

This section has not been filled in yet.

Reliability