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Photovoltaic (PV) materials and devices convert sunlight into electrical energy, and PV cells are
commonly known as solar cells. Photovoltaics can literally be translated as light-electricity.
First used in about 1890, "photovoltaic" has two parts: photo, derived from the Greek word for light,
and volt, relating to electricity pioneer Alessandro Volta. And this is what photovoltaic materials and
devices dothey convert light energy into electrical energy, as French physicist Edmond Becquerel
discovered as early as 1839.
Becquerel discovered the process of using sunlight to produce an electric current in a solid material. But it
took more than another century to truly understand this process. Scientists eventually learned that the
photoelectric or photovoltaic effect caused certain materials to convert light energy into electrical energy
at the atomic level.
PV systems are already an important part of our daily lives. Simple PV systems provide power for small
consumer items such as calculators and wristwatches. More complicated systems provide power for
communications satellites, water pumps, and the lights, appliances, and machines in some homes and
workplaces. Many road and traffic signs also are now powered by PV. In many cases, PV power is the
least expensive form of electricity for these tasks.
Learn more about PV:
Photovoltaic (PV) cells, or solar cells, take advantage of the photoelectric effect to produce electricity. PV
cells are the building blocks of all PV systems because they are the devices that convert sunlight to
electricity.
Commonly known as solar cells, individual PV cells are electricity-producing devices made of
semiconductor materials. PV cells come in many sizes and shapes, from smaller than a postage stamp to
several inches across. They are often connected together to form PVmodules that may be up to several
feet long and a few feet wide.
Modules, in turn, can be combined and connected to form PV arrays of different sizes and power output.
The modules of the array make up the major part of a PV system, which can also include electrical
connections, mounting hardware, power-conditioning equipment, and batteries that store solar energy for
use when the sun is not shining.
When light shines on a PV cell, it may be reflected, absorbed, or pass right through. But only the
absorbed light generates electricity. The energy of the absorbed light is transferred to electrons in the
atoms of the PV cell semiconductor material. With their newfound energy, these electrons escape from
their normal positions in the atoms and become part of the electrical flow, or current, in an electrical
circuit. A special electrical property of the PV cellwhat is called a "built-in electric field"provides the
force, or voltage, needed to drive the current through an external load, such as a light bulb.

CRYSTALLINE SILICON CELLS

Crystalline silicon PV cells are the most common photovoltaic cells in use today. They are also the
earliest successful PV devices. Therefore, crystalline silicon solar cells provide a good example of typical
PV cell functionality. Learn more about crystalline silicon cells and how these solar cells work
with semiconductors and the built-in electric field

Although crystalline silicon cells are the most common type, photovoltaic (PV), or solar cells, can be
made of many semiconductor materials. Each material has unique strengths and characteristics that
influence its suitability for specific applications. For example, PV cell materials may differ based on their
crystallinity, bandgap, absorbtion, and manufacturing complexity.
Learn more about each of these characteristics below or learn about these solar cell materials:

Silicon (Si)including single-crystalline Si, multicrystalline Si, and amorphous Si

Polycrystalline Thin Filmsincluding copper indium diselenide (CIS), cadmium telluride (CdTe),

and thin-film silicon

Single-Crystalline Thin Filmsincluding high-efficiency material such as gallium arsenide
(GaAs).

CRYSTALLINITY
The crystallinity of a material indicates how perfectly ordered the atoms are in the crystal structure.
Silicon, as well as other solar cell semiconductor materials, comes in various forms, including singlecrystalline, multicrystalline, polycrystalline, and amorphous. In a single-crystal material, the atoms that
make up the framework of the crystal are repeated in a very regular, orderly manner from layer to layer. In
contrast, in a material composed of numerous smaller crystals, the orderly arrangement is disrupted
moving from one crystal to another.

BANDGAP
The bandgap of a semiconductor material is the minimum energy needed to move an electron from its
bound state within an atom to a free state. This free state is where the electron can be involved in
conduction. The lower energy level of a semiconductor is called the valence band, and the higher energy
level where an electron is free to roam is called the conduction band. The bandgap (often symbolized by
Eg) is the energy difference between the conduction and valence bands.

ABSORPTION
The absorption coefficient of a material indicates how far light with a specific wavelength (or energy) can
penetrate the material before being absorbed. A small absorption coefficient means that light is not readily
absorbed by the material.
The absorption coefficient of a solar cell depends on two factors: the material of the cell and the
wavelength or energy of the light being absorbed. Solar cell material has an abrupt edge in its absorption
coefficient because light with energy below the material's bandgap cannot free an electron.

MANUFACTURING COMPLEXITY

The most important parts of a solar cell are the semiconductor layers because this is where electrons are
freed and electric current is created. Several semiconductor materials can be used to make the layers in
solar cells, and each material has its benefits and drawbacks.
The cost and complexity of manufacturing varies across materials and device structuresbased on many
factors, including deposition in a vacuum environment, amount and type of material used, number of
steps involved, and the need to move cells into different deposition chambers.

Photovoltaic Cell Structure Basics

August 19, 2013 - 4:50pm

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The actual structural design of a photovoltaic (PV), or solar cell, depends on the limitations of the material
used in the PV cell. The four basic device designs are:

HOMOJUNCTION DEVICES
Crystalline silicon is the primary example of this kind of cell. A single materialcrystalline siliconis
altered so that one side is p-type, dominated by positive holes, and the other side is n-type, dominated by
negative electrons. The p/n junction is located so that the maximum light is absorbed near it. The free
electrons and holes generated by light deep in the silicon diffuse to the p/n junction and then separate to
produce a current if the silicon is of sufficiently high quality.
In this homojunction design, these aspects of the cell may be varied to increase conversion efficiency:

Depth of the p/n junction below the cell's surface

Amount and distribution of dopant atoms on either side of the p/n junction
Crystallinity and purity of the silicon.

Some homojunction cells have also been designed with the positive and negative electrical contacts on
the back of the cell. This geometry eliminates the shadowing caused by the electrical grid on top of the
cell. A disadvantage is that the charge carriers, which are mostly generated near the top surface of the
cell, must travel fartherall the way to the back of the cellto reach an electrical contact. To be able to
do this, the silicon must be of very high quality, without crystal defects that cause electrons and holes to
recombine.

HETEROJUNCTION DEVICES
An example of this type of device structure is a copper indium diselenide cell, in which the junction is
formed by contacting different semiconductorscadmium sulfide and copper indium diselenide. This
structure is often chosen to produce cells made of thin-film materials that absorb light better than silicon.

The top and bottom layers in a heterojunction device have different roles. The top layer, orwindow layer,
is a material with a high bandgap selected for its transparency to light. The window allows almost all
incident light to reach the bottom layer, which is a material with low bandgap that readily absorbs light.
This light then generates electrons and holes very near the junction, which helps to effectively separate
the electrons and holes before they can recombine.
Heterojunction devices have an inherent advantage over homojunction devices, which require materials
that can be doped both p- and n-type. Many PV materials can be doped either p-type or n-type but not
both. Again, because heterojunctions do not have this constraint, many promising PV materials can be
investigated to produce optimal cells.
Also, a high-bandgap window layer reduces the cell's series resistance. The window material can be
made highly conductive, and the thickness can be increased without reducing the transmittance of light.
As a result, light-generated electrons can easily flow laterally in the window layer to reach an electrical
contact.

P-I-N AND N-I-P DEVICES

Typically, amorphous silicon thin-film cells use a p-i-n structure, whereas cadmium telluride (CdTe) cells
use an n-i-p structure. The basic scenario is as follows: A three-layer sandwich is created, with a middle
intrinsic (i-type or undoped) layer between an n-type layer and a p-type layer. This geometry sets up an
electric field between the p- and n-type regions that stretches across the middle intrinsic resistive region.
Light generates free electrons and holes in the intrinsic region, which are then separated by the electric
field.
In the p-i-n amorphous silicon (a-Si) cell, the top layer is p-type a-Si, the middle layer is intrinsic silicon,
and the bottom layer is n-type a-Si. Amorphous silicon has many atomic-level electrical defects when it is
highly conductive, so very little current would flow if an a-Si cell had to depend on diffusion. However, in a
p-i-n cell, current flows because the free electrons and holes are generated within the influence of an
electric field rather than having to move toward the field.
In a CdTe cell, the device structure is similar to the a-Si cell, except the order of layers is flipped upside
down. Specifically, in a typical CdTe cell, the top layer is p-type cadmium sulfide (CdS), the middle layer is
intrinsic CdTe, and the bottom layer is n-type zinc telluride (ZnTe).

MULTIJUNCTION DEVICES

A multijunction device is a stack of

individual single-junction cells in
descending order of bandgap (Eg).
The top cell captures the high-energy
photons and passes the rest of the
photons on to be absorbed by lowerbandgap cells.

This structure, also called a cascade or tandem cell, can achieve a higher total conversion efficiency by
capturing a larger portion of the solar spectrum. In the typical multijunction cell, individual cells with
different bandgaps are stacked on top of one another. The individual cells are stacked in such a way that
sunlight falls first on the material having the largest bandgap. Photons not absorbed in the first cell are
transmitted to the second cell, which then absorbs the higher-energy portion of the remaining solar
radiation while remaining transparent to the lower-energy photons. These selective absorption processes
continue through to the final cell, which has the smallest bandgap.
A multijunction cell can be made two ways. In the mechanical stack approach, two individual solar cells
are made independently, one with a high bandgap and one with a lower bandgap. Then the two cells are
mechanically stacked, one on top of the other. In the monolithic approach, one complete solar cell is
made first, and then the layers for the second cell are grown or deposited directly on the first.
Much of today's research in multijunction cells focuses on gallium arsenide as one (or all) of the
component cells. These cells have efficiencies of more than 35% under concentrated sunlight, which is
high for PV devices. Other materials studied for multijunction devices are amorphous silicon and copper
indium diselenide.

This multijunction device has a top cell

of gallium indium phosphide, a tunnel
junction to allow the flow of electrons
between the cells, and a bottom cell
of gallium arsenide.

Photovoltaic Cell Performance Basics

August 19, 2013 - 4:55pm

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Photovoltaic (PV), or solar cells use the energy in sunlight to produce electricity. However, the amount of
electricity produced depends on the quality of the light available and the performance of the PV cell.
Researchers make measurements of conversion efficiency and quantum efficiency to characterize the
performance of PV cells. Based on these results, researchers may redesign aspects of the celle.g.,
material compositions or thicknesses of layersto improve performance.