Unit-2 : Solar cell fundamentals

• Various generations
• Semiconductor materials
• Doping
• Fermi level
• PN junction and characteristics
• Photovoltaic effect
• Photovoltaic material
• Advantages and limitations of solar energy
system
 Semiconductor Materials
• Based on Restivity, ρ, materials categorized as
– Conductors
– Insulators
– Semiconductors
Periodic Table
Portion of the Periodic Table Related to
Semiconductors
Element and compound semiconductors
 Crystal Structure

Most Semi conductors are single crystal structure

 Crystal Structure

Diamond lattice Zincblende lattice

• The element semiconductors, silicon and germanium, have a diamond lattice
structure

• All atoms are identical in a diamond lattice, and each atom in the diamond
lattice is surrounded by four equidistant nearest neighbours that lie at the
corners of a tetrahedron.

• Most of the III-V semiconductors (e.g. GaAs) have a zincblende lattice

 Energy Band

• According to the Bohr model, the energy

levels of a hydrogen atom are given by
 Energy Band Structure
• When two atoms approach one another, the energy level
will split into two by the interaction between the atoms

• When N atoms come together to form a crystal, the energy

will be split into N separate but closely spaced levels, thereby
resulting in an essentially continuous band of energy
Schematic energy band representations

(a) an insulator, (b) a semiconductor, and (c) conductors

 Intrinsic Semiconductor
• Pure semiconductor
 Doping
• The process of adding impurity to the intrinsic semi conductor
so as to change its conductivity with affecting the state of the
semi conductor material

• Doped intrinsic semi conductor
Extrinsic Semiconductor

• Doping impurity: Donor Type and Acceptor Type

Portion of the Periodic Table Related to
Semiconductors
 Extrinsic Semiconductor

• Donor Type (n-type) • Acceptor Type (p-type)

 Intrinsic Carrier Concentration
Fermi Level
• The probability that an electronic state with energy E is
occupied by an electron is given by the Fermi-Dirac
distribution function:

• EF is the Fermi level, the energy at which the probability of

occupation by an electron is exactly one-half.
k : Boltzmann’s Constant = 1.38 Ҳ 10-23 J/K = 8.62 Ҳ 10-5 eV/K
T : Temperature in Kelvin EF : Fermi Energy
E: Energy level of particular state
 Solar Cell : The P-N Junction
• The most common solar cells are basically large p–n (thought of as
positive–negative) junction diodes that use light energy (photons)
to produce DC electricity.

• Works on Photovoltaic effect

• No voltage is applied across the junction; rather, a current is

produced in the connected load when the cells are illuminated

• The p–n junction is formed by combining doped semiconductor

materials such as Si or GaAs
 Energy Conversion in a Solar Cell
• First, absorption of light of an appropriate wavelength generates an
electron–hole pair.
– Light absorption refers to the annihilation or absorption of photons by the
excitation of an electron from the valence band up to the conduction band.

• Electrons flow readily through the n-type material and holes flow readily
through p-type material.

• The light-generated electron and hole are separated by the electronic

structure of the device: electrons to the negative terminal and holes to the
positive terminal.
• The electrical power is collected by metal (ohmic) contacts on the front
and back of the cell. Typically, the back contact is solid metal and the front
is a metal grid

• The presence of electrons and holes creates net negative and positive
charges, which in turn induce an electric field in the region near the
metallurgical junction.

• The electric field “sweeps out” the electrons and holes to create what is
called the depletion region.

• These terms and methodologies are true for most p–n junction diodes.
 How Solar cell efficiency is improved
• Modified materials to have band-gap energies for photons in the
visible range.

• The spectrum from infrared to ultraviolet covers a range from 0.5 to

about 2.9 eV.

– Red light
Energy gap
1.7 eV,

– Blue light
Energy gap
2.7 eV.

• Semiconductors
Band gaps
1 to 3 eV range (Si
1.1eV)

• PV semiconductors
Band-gap energies
1.0 to 1.6 eV.

• Terrestrial PV devices convert 7–22% of light energy into
electric energy

• About 55% of the energy of sunlight cannot be used by most

PV cells
– Energy is either below the band gap or carries excess
energy.

• Using multiple p–n junctions (tandem cells), which have

efficiencies as high as ≥35%.
 Solar Cell

Fig.2: Light incident on the cell creates electron-hole pairs, which are separated by the potential barrier,
creating a voltage that drives a current through an external circuit.
Solar Cell Structure
 Various Types of PV solar Cell

1. Monocrystalline silicon

2. Polycrystalline silicon

3. Amorphous silicon
 Monocrystalline silicon
• Cells are made from an ingot of a single crystal of silicon, grown in high-
tech labs, sliced, then doped and etched.

• For commercial terrestrial modules, efficiencies typically range from

about 15–20%.

• Modules made of this type of cell are the most mature on the market.

• Reliable manufacturers of this type of PV module offer guarantees of up to

20–25 years at 80% of nameplate rating.
Monocrystalline silicon
 Polycrystalline silicon
• These cells are made up of various silicon crystals formed
from an ingot.

• They are also sliced and then doped and etched.

• They demonstrate conversion efficiencies slightly lower than

those of monocrystalline cells, generally from 13 to 15%.

• Reliable manufacturers typically guarantee polycrystalline PV

modules for 20 years.
Polycrystalline silicon
 Amorphous silicon
• The term amorphous refers to the lack of any geometric cell structure.

• Amorphous modules do not have the ordered pattern characteristic of crystals

as in the case of crystalline silicon.

• Commercial modules typically have conversion efficiencies from 5 to 10%.

• Most product guarantees are for 10 years, depending on the manufacturer.

• The technology has yet to gain widespread acceptance for larger power
applications largely due to shorter lifetimes from accelerated cell degradation
in sunlight (degradation to 80% of original output in most cases).
Amorphous silicon
 Three generations of solar cells
Generation of solar cell Description
First Generation • consist of large-area, high quality and
single
junction devices.
• Ex: Silicon Wafer based solar cell.
Second Generation • developed to address energy requirements
and production costs of solar cells.
• Ex: Thin-film solar cell technology

Third Generation • developed to address production costs

and efficiency of solar cell.
• Ex: Advanced thin-film solar cell
technology.
Types of PV Technology

Fig.3: Types of PV Technology

 Unit-3 : Solar cell Characteristics
• Equivalent electrical circuit
• I-V & P-V characteristics
• Open circuit voltage and short circuit current
• Effect of variation of insolation and temperature
• Energy losses and efficiency
• Maximizing the performances
• Cell size, cell in series and parallel
• PV modules and arrays
• Basics of load estimation
Solar Cell :Electrical Model
Solar Cell :Working Equation
Thank you.

Questions, Comments, …?

36