Week 1: Introduction

Energy and power

E  mc02  qV  k BT
hc
E ph  h 

1240(eV  nm)
E ph (eV ) 
 (nm)
E   Pt dt
P  VI  I 2 R

Planck’s law
2hc02
LBB
T ,    1
  hc0 
e 5

exp    1
 k B T 
I eBB T ,    LBB
e T ,   sun
2
 Rsun 
 sun    
 AU  REarth 

Air mass
1
AM 
cos 

Week 2: Semiconductor basics

Band gap
EG  EC  EV

Fermi-Dirac function
1
f E 
 E  EF 
1  exp  
 k BT 

Density of states in conduction and valence bands:

32
 4 2  mn 
gC  E     E  EC 
12

 h3 
 32
 4 2  mp 
gV  E     E  EV 
12

 h3 
 

Charge carrier density in conduction and valence band

E top
n0   gC ( E ) f ( E )dE
EC

 f ( E )dE
EV
p0   g (E) 1 
Ebottom V

Charge carrier density in conduction and valence band applying Boltzmann approximation
 E  EC 
n  N C exp  F 
 k BT  for
EC  EF  3kBT
 E  EF  EF  EV  3kBT
p  N V exp  V  for
 k BT 

Effective densities of conduction and valence band states

3
 2mn* k B T  2
N C  2   
 h2 
3
 2m *p k B T  2
NV  2   
 h 2 
 

Carrier concentration intrinsic semiconductor in equilibrium conditions

 E  EC   E 
np  ni2  N C N V exp  V   N C N V exp  G 
 k BT   k BT  ,

Carrier concentration in doped semiconductors in equilibrium conditions

N-type material
n  p  ND  ND
ni2 n2
p  i  n
n ND

P-type material
p  n  NA  NA
ni2 ni2
n   p0
p NA
Carrier concentration in semiconductors under illumination:
np  ni2
 EFn  EFp 
np  ni 2 exp  
 kBT 

 E  EC 
n  N C exp  Fn 
 k BT 

 EV  EFp 
p  NV exp  
 k BT 

Carrier transport mechanisms

Charge transport: drift
v dn  n ξ
v dp   p ξ

J n,drift  q n v dn  q n n ξ

J p,drift  q p vdp  q p  p ξ

J drift  q ( p  p  n n ) ξ

Charge transport: diffusion

J n,diff  q Dnn

J p,diff  q Dpp

J diff  q  Dnn  Dp p 

Total current density:

J  J drift  J diff  q ( p  p  n n ) ξ  q  Dnn  Dpp 

Einstein relations:
Dn k BT

n q

Dp k BT

p q
Week 3: Generation and recombination
Electrical conductivity
  qn n  q  p p

Thermal recombination/generation rate

n n

t thermal n
R-G
for electrons in a p-type material
dp p

dt thermal p
R-G
for holes in an n-type material

Recombination under external generation

Rn'   r  pn   r  p0  n for electrons in a p-type material
R p'   r n p   r n0  p for holes in an n-type material

Ambipolar transport equation

 2  n    n   n   n 
Dn  n E G 
x 2
x  n0 t
 2  p    p   p   p 
Dp   pE G 
x 2
x  p0 t

Ambipolar transport equation 3D

n 1
   J n  Rn  G n
t q
p 1
    J p  Rp  Gp
t q

Week 4: The P-N junction

Charge density in depletion region
 x   q N D for
 ln  x  0
 x   q N A for
0  x  lp
N A l p  N D ln

Poisson equation
d 2 d 
 
dx 2
dx r 0
1
r 0 
  dx

  ln    l p   0
,

Built-in voltage
N N 
qVbi  EG  E Fn  E Fp  k B T ln A 2 D 

 ni 
Vbi 
q
2 r  0
N D ln2  N A l p2 

Depletion region width of p-n junction

2 r  0  1 1 
W  ln  l p  Vbi   
q  A
N N D 

Current-voltage relationship
 qV 
J rec Va   J rec Va  0  exp  a 
 k BT 
  qV  
J Va   J rec Va   J gen Va   J ph  J 0 exp  a   1  J ph
  k BT  
 Dn Dp 
J 0  q ni2   
L N 
 n A Lp N D 
 qDn n p 0 qD p p n 0 
J0    
 Ln L p 
J ph  q  G Ln  W  L p 
Ln  Dn n L p  D p p
2 2
and

External parameters of solar cell

k B T  J ph 
Voc  ln  1
q  J0 
voc  lnvoc  0.72 qVoc
FF  , where v oc 
voc  1 k BT
Pmax J mp Vmp J sc Voc FF
  
Pin Pin Pin
Week 5: Advanced Concepts in Semiconductors
Schottky barrier (for an n-type semiconductor)
Bn  m  
Vbi  Bn  n

Depletion region width Schottky barrier

2 s Vbi  VR 
W
qN d

Thermionic emission
 q 
J (V )  A*T 2 exp   Bn 
 k BT 

Tunneling
 q  q Nd
J T  exp   Bn  , with E00 
 E00  2  mn

Specific contact resistance

k BT   q Bn 
exp  
Rc 
q  B 
k T
Thermionic emission
* 2
AT
  2  s mn*  
Rc  exp   Bn  Tunneling
 h Nd 
 

Electron affinity rule

EC  q( n   p )

EC  EV  EGp  EGn  EG

Heterojunction built-in voltage

qVbi  q(sp  sn )
N   NVp   p p 0 NVn 
qVbi  EC  EG  k BT ln  Vn   k BT ln    EV  k BT ln  
p   p N 
 pn 0   p 0   n 0 Vp 
Week 6: Light management 1, Refraction/Dispersion/Diffraction

Electric and magnetic field strengths

E  r , t   E0 exp  ik y y  it   E0 sin  k y y  t 

H  r , t   H 0 exp  ik y y  it   H 0 sin  k y y  t 

n 2 2 n
ky   
c0  c0

Incident power
P   I dA
I   P( )d
 
P ( ) 
    ( )d   d
0 0
hc

Spectral utilization
G G  G 

 λ  dλ EG   λ  dλ EG   λ  dλ
hc
λ
 ult  p abs puse  0  G 0   0
0 λ  λ dλ  λ  λ dλ 0 λ  λ dλ
hc hc hc
0

Front grid
Af
Cf 
Atot
L
R
WH

Complex refractive index

n    n  i

Absorption coefficient
4



Lambert-beer law
I x  I 0 exp   x 
Snell’s law
n1 ( ) sin(i )  n2 ( ) sin(t )
i   r
 n2 
 critical  sin 1  
 n1 
 n2 
 Brewster  tan 1  
 n1 

Fresnel coefficients
n1 cos( i )  n2 cos( t )
rS 
n1 cos( i )  n2 cos( t )

n1 cos( t )  n2 cos( i )
rP 
n1 cos( t )  n2 cos( i )

R  r 2  1 T
 n  n2 
RP  RS   1  under normal incidence
 n1  n2 
RP 
1 2
2

rS  rP2  for unpolarised light

Wave superimposition
C0  A0  B0 exp  i 

Dielectric multi-layers
B
 nH d1  nL d 2
4
2
 n0 nL2 p  nS nH2 p 
R 2p 
 n0 nL  nS nH 
2p

4  nH  nL 
  B sin 1  
  nH  nL 

Diffraction grating
2 d sin 
 m

Week 7. Light management II: light scattering
Rayleigh scattering
2
 2   n p  n0   d  1  cos 
4 2 2 6 2
I    I 0      
    n p  2n0   2 
2 2
2R2

Radiance
d   sin  d  d 
P   L cos d dS
e
S 2

1 4P L
Le  Le  2e
cos  S  n

Etendue
P
Etendue  
 n 2 dS cos  d
Le

Week 8. Solar cell engineering

External quantum efficiency
I ph   
EQE    
   q
EQE    1  R( )  I QEop   g ( )  IQEel  

J sc (V  0 V)  q   ( )  EQE ( )d
0

Solar cell efficiency

G G

0 λ  λ dλ EG  λ  dλ
hc
Af qVoc
 
 G 0
 1  R( )   I QE op   g ( )  IQE el     FF
Atot EG
 λ 
hc
 λ 
hc
dλ dλ
0
λ 0
λ