EP 319-INTRODUCTION TO

PHOTOVOLTAICS SYSTEMS
CHAPTER 3-FUNDAMENTALS OF
SOLAR CELLS

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Solid materials are classified by the way the atoms are
arranged within the solid. Materials in which atoms are
placed at random are called amorphous. Examples of
amorphous solids are glass and plastic. In figure c crystalline
structure is shown the atoms are arranged in high ordered.
Fig b is shows polycrsystal materials consists of small
crystalline regions with random orientation called grains,
seperated by grain boundary.
Crystals, polycrystals and amorphous
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Conductors, semiconductors and insulators:
Materials can be catagorized into conductors, slc and insulators by their
ability to conduct electricity. A useful way to visualize the difference between
them to plot their band diagrams. As shown in fig.a a half filled vb and full
conduction band seperated by very small band gap and in fig b the bands are
overlapped each other. Most highly conducting metals are satisfy these two
conditions. In figd no conduction is expected because large band gap and
completely filled band. Fig c. Shows a slc situation. In here nearly filled band is
close enough to next higher empty band that an electron can jump to the
higher band.
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Slc are classified into two group according to their band gap:
direct band gap slc and indirect band gap slc. Band gap
represents the energy difference between maximum of VB and
minimum of CB. A direct band gap means that the minimum of
CB and maximum of VB occur at the same k value. In a direct
band gap of semiconductor maximum of the VB and minimum of
CB occurs in different k values.
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SEMICONDUCTORS
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SEMICONDUCTORS
Slc are divided into two groups; elemental and compound slc.
Elemental slc s are slc which each atoms is of the same type such
as Ge, Si in group IV of periodic table. Compound slc are made of
two or more elements. Such as CdS, ZnS.
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SEMICONDUCTORS
SEMICONDUCTORS
Solar cells are manufactured from semiconductor materials; that is,
materials that act as insulators at low temperatures, but as
conductors when energy or heat is available. Semiconductors are
materials whose electrical conductivity is lower than that of
conductors but higher than that of insulators.
Silicon (Si), which is the most widely used semiconductor material
today, is abundantly available around the globe and ecologically
friendly.
The other semiconductor materials that can be used for technical
applications are germanium (Ge), selenium (Se), gallium arsenide
(GaAs), gallium phosphide (GaP), indium phosphide (InP),cadmium
sulphide (CdS), cadmium telluride (CdTe) and copper indium
diselenide (CuInSe2 or CIS, sometimes with a small amount of
gallium added to form copper indium gallium diselenide,
Cu(In,Ga)Se2, or CIGS). One of the key parameters for the
characterization of semiconductor properties is band gap energy EG.
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SEMICONDUCTORS

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SEMICONDUCTORS

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SEMICONDUCTORS

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SEMICONDUCTORS

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SEMICONDUCTORS

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SEMICONDUCTORS
Slc, such as Si are made up of individual atoms bonded together in
a regular, periodic structure to form an arrangement whereby
each atom is surrounded by 8 electrons. The electrons surrounded
by each atom in a slc are part of a covalent bond. A covalent bond
consists of two atoms sharing a single electron.
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Conduction in semiconductors
Conduction in semiconductors
The electrical properties of semiconductors can be explained
using two models, the bond and the band models. The bond
structure of a slc determines the material properties of a slc.
The bond model: The bond model uses the covalent bonds
joining the silicon atoms to describe semiconductor behaviour.
Figure illustrates the bonding and the movement of electrons in
a silicon crystal lattice.
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At low temperatures, the bonds are intact and the
silicon behaves as an insulator. At high temperatures,
some bonds are broken and conduction can occur by
two processes:
1. Electrons from broken bonds are free to move.
2. Electrons from neighboring bonds can also move into
the hole created in the broken bond, allowing the
broken bond or hole to propagate as if it had a positive
charge.
**The concept of a moving hole is analogous to that of
a bubble in a liquid. Although it is actually the liquid
that moves, it is easier to describe the motion of the
bubble going in the opposite direction.**
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Conduction in semiconductors
The band model
The band model describes semiconductor behaviour in terms of
the energy levels between valence and conduction bands. This is
illustrated in Fig. The electrons in covalent bonds have energies
corresponding to those in the valence band. In the conduction
band the electrons are free. The forbidden gap corresponds to the
minimum energy needed to release an electron from a covalent
bond to the conducting band where it can conduct a current. The
holes remaining conduct in the opposite direction in the valence
band, as described for the bond model.
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Semiconductors Doping

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Semiconductors Doping
Semiconductors Doping
Although semiconductor conductivity at temperatures above the
absolute zero point is considerably higher than the conductivity
of insulators, it is nonetheless very low. This conductivity can be
substantially increased by adding suitable external atoms in a
process known as semiconductor doping. Atoms with one more
valence electron than the semiconductor are used to produce n-
type material. Atoms with one less valence electron result in p-
type material.
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Semiconductors Doping

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Semiconductors Doping

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Absorption of Light
Photons incident on the surface of a slc will be either reflected from the top
surface, will be absorbed in material or, will be transmitted. For photovoltaics
devices, reflection and transmission are typically considered loss mechanisms
as photons which are not absorbed do not generate power. When light falls
onto semiconductor material, photons with energy (Eph) less than the bandgap
energy (Eg) interact only weakly with the semiconductor, passing through it as
if it were transparent. However, photons with energy greater than the bandgap
energy (Eph > Eg) interact with electrons in covalent bonds, using up their
energy to break bonds and create electron-hole pairs, which can then wander
off independently.
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Absorption coefficient
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The absorption coefficient determines how far into a material light of a
particular wavelength can penetrate before it is absorbed. In a material with a
low absorption coefficient, light is only poorly absorbed, and if the material is
thin enough, it will appear transparent to that wavelength. The absorption
coefficient depends on the material and also on the wavelength of light which
is being absorbed. Semiconductor materials have a sharp edge in their
absorption coefficient, since light which has energy below the band gap does
not have sufficient energy to excite an electron into the conduction band from
the valence band. Consequently this light is not absorbed.
. O
t
I I e

= absorption coefficient
t= thickness of solar cell
I0= intensity at top surface

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Absorption depth
The relationship between absorption coefficient and wavelength makes it so
that different wavelengths penetrate different distances into a
semiconductor before most of the light is absorbed. The absorption depth is
given by the inverse of the absorption coefficient, or -1. The absorption
depth is a useful parameter which gives the distance into the material at
which the light drops to about 36% of its original intensity, or alternately has
dropped by a factor of 1/e. Since high energy light (short wavelength), such
as blue light, has a large absorption coefficient, it is absorbed in a short
distance (for silicon solar cells within a few microns) of the surface, while red
light (lower energy, longer wavelength) is absorbed less strongly. Even after a
few hundred microns, not all red light is absorbed in silicon.

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Generation Rate
The generation rate gives the number of electrons generated
at each point in the device due to the absorption of photons.
The generation rate (G) of electron-hole (e-h) pairs per unit
volume can be calculated using the formula:


where N is the photon flux (photons per unit area per second),
is the absorption coefficient, and x is the distance from the
surface.

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