Solar cell operating principles

Solar cell operation is based on the photovoltaic effect:

The generation of a voltage difference at the junction of two different materials in response to visible or other radiation.

1. Absorption of light - Generation of charge carriers 2. Separation of charge carriers 3. Collection of the carriers at the electrodes

Semiconductor based solar cells

p-n junction
front contact n-type Si membrane

p-type Si

absorber

p++-type Si back contact

membrane

Solar cell materials

Cover glass Transparent adhesive n-type Si p-type Si
p++-type Si

Passivation layer/ARC front contact

back contact Encapsulant/glass

Semiconductors
General properties
Solid materials
crystalline (regular atomic structure: long range order) amorphous (amorphous network: short range order)

Electrical conductivity based upon mobile electrons

conductors ( > 104 -1 cm-1) semiconductors (104 -1 cm-1 > > 10-8 -1 cm-1) insulators ( < 10-8 -1 cm-1)

Thermal behavior of electrical conductivity Control of electrical conductivity by doping

Semiconductors
Important properties for a solar cell:
Optical properties
band gap absorption coefficient index of refraction

Carriers concentration
Concentration of dopant atoms

Transport properties
mobility of carriers (drift) diffusion coefficient (diffusion)

Recombination
lifetime of minority carriers and diffusion length distribution of density of energy states

Silicon
Atom Crystal

Atomic number: 14 Atomic weight: 28.08 Ground state electron configuration: 4 valence electrons

Covalent bond Basic unit: 5 Si atoms Crystal lattice: diamond lattice unit lattice constant 5.4

Silicon
Unit cell

Si atom

Silicon
Bonding model

Si atom

electron

Silicon
Bonding model
n=p

Covalent bond

hole

Silicon
Doping

n-type
Introducing Phosphorus Phosphorus atom: 5 valence electrons

p-type
Introducing Boron Boron atom: 3 valence electrons

Silicon
Bonding model
n>p n<p

P atom

B atom

Silicon
Energy band diagram
A plot of the allowed electron energy states in a material as a function of position along pre-selected direction.
CB EG=1.1 eV
Concetrantion of electrons and holes Fermi-Dirac distribution function

EC EF EV

f (E ) =

1 + e ( E EF ) kT

VB n = p = ni

ni = 1.5 1010 cm-3

E EF n = N C exp C kT E EV p = NV exp F kT

NC = 3.21019 cm-3 NV = 1.81019 cm-3

Silicon
n-type Si n > p np = ni2 EC EF EV n ND (T=300 K)
ND = n = 1.01017 cm-3 p = ni2/n = 2.25103 cm-3 EC - EF = 0.14 eV

p-type Si n < p np = ni2 EC EF EV EA

ED

p NA (T=300 K)
NA = p = 1.01020 cm-3 n = ni2/p = 2.25 cm-3 EF - EV = 0.04 eV

Semiconductors
Band gap (EG)
EC Eph EV
Creation of an electron-hole pair

EC EG EV
Thermalization Eph>EG

EC Eph EG EV
Non absorption Eph<EG

Eph

EG

About 55% of solar energy is not usable by PV cells

Semiconductors
Band gap (EG)

Semiconductors
Transport Drift: Charged-particle motion in response to electric field
EC EF EV Drift current:
J N drift = q n n J P drift = q p p

Mobility: Phonon scattering Ionized impurity scattering

+ ) T 3 2 (N D + NA

Electrical conductivity:
= qn n + q p p

Semiconductors
Transport Diffusion: A process whereby particles tend to spread out from
regions of high particle concentration into regions of low particle concentration as a result of random thermal motion. Diffusion current: EC EF EV
J N diff = q Dn
J P diff

dn dx dp = q Dp dx

Diffusion coefficient:
Dn = kT n q Dp = kT p q

Semiconductors
Recombination: A process whereby electrons and holes (carriers) are annihilated or destroyed. Generation: A process whereby electrons and holes are created.

R-G Center recombination

Minority carrier lifetime:

1 n = Cn N T

EC ET EV

p =

1 C p NT

Phonons Heat

Diffusion length:
Ln = Dn n

Lp = Dp p

Band-to-band recombination
EC
Heat Light

EV EC
Light (photons)

EV

R-G center
- dominant recombination-generation mechanism

EC
Heat (phonons)

ET

EV