Photovoltaics

Dr. Saeed Mahmud Ullah

Professor
EEE, DU
 What is Solar Cell?
• A solar cell or photovoltaic cell is a device
which generates electricity directly from
visible light by means of the photovoltaic
effect

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 PV system building blocks
The basic building
blocks for PV
systems include
cells, modules, and
arrays.

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 Solar Cells (different Si structures)

Single crystal Solar Cell Polycrystal Solar Cell Amorphous Solar Cell
Efficiency: 15% - 18% Efficiency: 12% - 14% Efficiency: 5% - 6%
Cost: High Cost: Medium Cost: Low

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Si Solar Cell operation

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Solar Cell: Structure

Diffusion
Upper
contact
Antireflection
coating

n-type Si
P-type Si
Lower
contact

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Solar Cell: Structure

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 Solar Cell: Operating Principle

n-type
+ + + + + + + + + +
Electric
- - - - - - - - - - field
p-type

hole
electron

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Solar Cell: Operating Principle

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Solar Panel Fabrication

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Solar Panel Fabrication

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 Collection Probability
The "collection probability" describes the probability that a carrier generated by
light absorption in a certain region of the device will be collected by
the p-n junction and therefore contribute to the light-generated current,
But probability depends on the distance that a light-generated carrier must travel
compared to the diffusion length.
Collection probability also depends on the surface properties of the device.
The collection probability of carriers generated in the depletion region is unity as
the electron-hole pair are quickly swept apart by the electric field and are
collected.
Away from the junction, the collection probability drops. If the carrier is generated
more than a diffusion length away from the junction, then the collection
probability of this carrier is quite low.
Similarly, if the carrier is generated closer to a region such as a surface with higher
recombination than the junction, then the carrier will recombine.

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Collection Probability

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 Quantum Efficiency
The "quantum efficiency" (Q.E.) is the ratio of the number of
carriers collected by the solar cell to the number of photons of a
given energy incident on the solar cell.
The quantum efficiency may be given either as a function of
wavelength or as energy. If all photons of a certain wavelength are
absorbed and the resulting minority carriers are collected, then the
quantum efficiency at that particular wavelength is unity.
While quantum efficiency ideally has the square shape, the
quantum efficiency for most solar cells is reduced due to
recombination effects.

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 Quantum Efficiency
The same mechanisms which affect the collection probability also
affect the quantum efficiency.
For example, front surface passivation affects carriers generated
near the surface, and since blue light is absorbed very close to the
surface, high front surface recombination will affect the "blue"
portion of the quantum efficiency.
Similarly, green light is absorbed in the bulk of a solar cell and a low
diffusion length will affect the collection probability from the solar
cell bulk and reduce the quantum efficiency in the green portion of
the spectrum.
The quantum efficiency can be viewed as the collection probability
due the generation profile of a single wavelength, integrated over
the device thickness and normalized to the incident number of
photons. 16
Quantum Efficiency

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 Standard Test Condition

• Illumination: 1000 W/m2 ----- 1 Sun

• Temperature: 250C
• Air Mass: 1.5

The AM 1.5D spectrum is relevant for solar conversion systems based on light
concentration with mirrors or lenses because it consists only the direct sunlight
AM 1.5G spectrum includes also scattered light from the atmosphere and is
relevant for PV systems without light concentration.
The integrated power density is 900.1 W/m2 for AM 1.5D and 1000.4 W/m2 for
the AM 1.5G spectral irradiance.
s is the length of shadow and
h is height of an object
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 AM 1.5G

Fig. 1. (a) Schematic representation of the spectral irradiance outside the earths
atmosphere (AM 0) and on the earths surface for direct sunlight shown by a solid arrow (AM
1.5D) and the direct sunlight together with the scattered contribution from atmosphere
(solid and dashed arrow) integrated over a hemisphere (AM 1.5G). (b) Spectral irradiance
according to ASTM G173-03 in comparison to the spectrum used by Shockley and Queisser
of a black body with a surface temperature of 6000 K (BB 6000 K).
Sun Simulator

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Solar Cell: Equivalent circuit & Symbol

Equivalent Circuit Symbol

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 Solar Cell: Equations
I = IL − ID − ISH

Vj = V + IRS

I = output current
IL = photogenerated current
ID = diode current
ISH = shunt current
Vj = voltage across diode and resistor RSH
V = voltage across output terminals
RS = series resistance

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IV characteristics at dark and
illumination
 I-V characteristics of Solar Cell
A current-voltage (I-V)
curve shows the possible
combinations of current
and voltage output of a
photovoltaic (PV) device.

Maximum Power Point (MPP)

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Maximum Power Point

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 Open Circuit Voltage (VOC)
Maximum voltage available
from the solar cell at zero
current

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 Short Circuit Current (ISC)
The current through the solar
cell when the voltage across the
cell is zero

Using in-line and clamp-on

ammeters are two methods of
measuring short-circuit current.

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 Cell Efficiency
Efficiency is a measure of how effectively a PV
device converts solar power to electrical power.

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 Fill Factor
• Ratio of the
maximum power
from the solar cell to
the product of Voc
and Isc.
• Graphically, the FF is
a measure of the
"squareness" of the
solar cell and is also
the area of the
largest rectangle
which will fit in the IV
curve.

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 Characteristic Resistance
• The output resistance of the solar cell
at its maximum power point.
• If the resistance of the load is equal
to the characteristic resistance of the
solar cell, then the maximum power
is transferred to the load and the
solar cell operates at its maximum
power point.

•
• (Approximation)

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 Efficiency limits

• Short Circuit Current (Isc) limit:

– Under ideal condition, each photon incident on a cell
of energy greater than or equal to the band gap gives
rise to a EHP which flows towards the external circuit.
– Hence to calculate the maximum current, photon flux
in sunlight must be known.
– The maximum Isc can be found by integrating this
distribution from low wavelength to a maximum
wavelength (corresponding to the energy gap of the
material)
Open Circuit voltage limit
Efficiency Losses
Short Circuit Current losses
Cell thickness
Open Circuit Voltage Losses
Fill Factor Losses
 Dark characteristics
• Minority carriers in Quasi Neutral Regions
.
Minority carrier current
Illuminated Characteristics
Series and Shunt resistance
 Solar Irradiance Response
Voltage increases rapidly up to
about 200 W/m2, and then is
almost constant.
Current increases proportionally
with irradiance

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 Temperature Response

Increasing cell temperature

decreases voltage, slightly
increases current, and results
in a net loss of power.

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• Increases in temperature reduce the band gap of a
semiconductor.
• The decrease in the band gap of a semiconductor with
increasing temperature can be viewed as increasing the
energy of the electrons in the material. Lower energy is
therefore needed to break the bond. In the bond model of a
semiconductor band gap, reduction in the bond energy also
reduces the band gap. Therefore increasing the temperature
reduces the band gap.
• The open-circuit voltage decreases with temperature because
of the temperature dependence of I0. The equation for I0 from
one side of a p-n junction is given by;

The intrinsic carrier concentration depends on the band gap

energy (with lower band gaps giving a higher intrinsic carrier
concentration),
• Substituting these equations back into the expression for I0, and assuming
that the temperature dependencies of the other parameters can be
neglected, gives;
• The impact of I0 on the open-circuit voltage can be calculated
by substituting the equation for I0 into the equation for Voc as
shown below;
•
 Solar Cell: Design criteria
• In designing single junction solar cells, the principles
for maximising cell efficiency are:
• Increasing the amount of light collected by the cell;
• Increasing the collection of light-generated carriers by the p-n
junction;
• Minimising the forward bias dark current;
• Extracting the current from the cell without resistive losses.

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 Selection of material for Solar Cell

• the band gap;

• the number of free carriers available for
conduction; and
• the "generation" and recombination of free
carriers in response to light shining on the
material

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 Series Connections

PV cells or modules are

typically connected in
series strings to build
voltage.

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 Series Connections
The overall I-V characteristics of a series string are
dependent on the similarity of the current outputs of the
individual devices.

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 Parallel Connections
Strings of PV cells or modules may be connected in parallel
to build current.

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 Parallel Connections

The overall I-V

characteristics of a system
of PV devices in
parallel are dependent on
the similarity of the current
outputs of the individual
devices.

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 Bypass Diodes
Bypass diodes allow current to flow around devices that
develop an open circuit or high-resistance condition

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 Building an Array
Modules are added in series to form strings or panels,
which are then combined in parallel to form arrays.

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 Different Solar Cells
• Polycrystalline solar cells
• Important regions of polycrystalline cells are boundaries between
grains.
• An electrostatic barrier tends to develop at either side of the
boundary and blocks the majority carrier, thereby increasing
series resistance.
• Being the defects in the crystal structure, grain boundaries
introduce allowed levels into the forbidden gaps and acts as
effective recombination centers.
• They are considered sinks for minority carriers.
• Just as minority carriers generated within the diffusion length are
attracted by the junction, here, minority carriers are attracted by
the boundary and recombine due to the presence of a lot of
allowed levels at the forbidden gap at boundaries.
• Remedy: Columnar grain structure is more favorable (Fig 10.1.b)
than small grains (Fig 10.1.a).
• However, lateral distance of boundaries must be
more than diffusion length of minority carriers to
avoid significant loss due to recombination.
• Boundaries also provide shunting paths to current
flow across pn junction.
• These conducting paths may develop from
preferential diffusion of dopant down grain
boundaries during the junction formation step.
• As Si is weakly absorbing material, large
diffusion length of the order of 0.1 mm is
required.
• Grain must have lateral dimension more than
this.
• Since, Si cell is just a fraction of mm thick, it is
easy to make such lateral distance between
grain boundaries.
•
Amorphous Si Solar Cell
• Due to large number of dangling bonds it is
difficult to grow pn junction.
• H saturates the dangling bonds in the
amorphous Si.
• a-Si:H alloys display significantly larger
bandgaps than crystalline Si and also much
more strongly absorbing.
• That’s why films of 1 micron is needed only.
Multi-junction solar cell
Fabrication of Multi-junction solar cell
• Mechanical Stacking
– The mechanically stacking is a less-desirable method due
to the bulkiness, additional expense, and heat-sinking
• Monolithically grown by MOCVD/MBE.
– MOCVD is preferable alternative to the MBE, because it is
not only ensures high crystal quality throughout the
device, but it is also easily scaled to large production
capacities.
• The transportation of electrons between layers in monolithic
multi-junction solar cells is addressed using a tunnel junction,
which is a stack of highly-doped layers, producing an effective
potential barrier for both minority-carriers.
• The strong doping is necessary in order to have a thin
depletion region, promoting tunneling across the junction and
minimizing optical losses.
• Elements used as n-type dopants are S, Se, Te, Sn, Si, C, Ge,
and p-type dopants are Zn, Be, Mg, Cd, Si, C, Ge
• The antireflection coating is a broadband dual-layer dielectric
stack, such as TiO2/Al2O3, Ta2O5/SiO2 or ZnS/MgF2, whose
spectral reflectivity characteristics are designed to reduce
typically large reflectance (~30%) of the device in the spectral
region of importance to <1%.
Tunnel junction
Thin Film Solar Cell
 Substrate
• Thin-film solar cells devices are configured in either
substrate or a superstrate structure.
• For superstrate configuration, the substrate is transparent
and the contact is made by a conducting oxide coating on
the substrate.
• For substrate configuration, the substrate is metal or
metallic coating on a glass/polymer substrate which also
acts as the contact. Substrate is a passive component in the
device and is required to be mechanically stable, matching
thermal expansion coefficient with deposited layers and
inert during the device fabrication. Suitable substrates are
selected for different processes on the basis of these
criteria.
Structure of CZTS thin film solar cell
 Transparent conducting oxide (TCO)
• Transparent conducting oxides in general are n-type
degenerate semiconductors with good electrical conductivity
and high transparency in the visible spectrum.
• Thus, a low-resistance contact to the device and transmission
of most of the incident light to the absorber layer is ensured.
• FTO (Fluorine-doped Tin Oxide) glass is a transparent
conductive metal oxide that can be used in the fabrication of
transparent electrodes for thin film photovoltaics, such as:
organic photovoltaic, amorphous silicon, cadmium telluride,
dye-sensitised solar cells, and hybrid perovskites.
 Window layer
• The window is typically heavily
doped n type semiconductor but Window
transparent to most of the layer
incident radiation as it has high
band gap.
• Due to high absorption in the
solar cell material, the photon
gets absorbed very close to the electron
surface ,where recombination
can be significant. Window layer
provides a surface passivation as
it collects electron but repeals hole
holes to move towards p region.
 Absorber
• The absorber is p type semiconductor which absorbs the
bulk of incident radiation. Electrons must be able to freely
flow from the absorber to the window and on to the metal
anode.
• Direct band gap material with high absorption coefficient
• CdTe is an ideal absorber material for high-efficiency, low
cost thin film polycrystalline solar cells. CdTe is a direct
bandgap material with an energy gap of 1.5 eV, and an
absorption coefficient 105/cm in the visible region, which
means that a layer thickness of a few micrometers is
sufficient to absorb 90% of the incident photons.
 Buffer layer
• The primary function of a buffer layer in a heterojunction is to form a
junction with the absorber layer while admitting a maximum amount of
light to the junction region and absorber layer;
• no photocurrent generation occurs in the buffer layer.
• For high optical throughput with minimal resistive loss the bandgap of
the buffer layer should be as high as possible and as thin as possible to
maintain low series resistance.
• The buffer helps ease the transition from one to the other. It’s usually
quite thin, 50 to 200 nm.
• It is made of a material that has a band gap between the window and the
absorber so that the conduction band offset, ΔEc, is significantly
reduced. This offset is normally a barrier to electron flow from the
absorber to the window and results in the loss of efficiency.
• In principle, the buffer should also help improve the interface between
window and absorber and thus improve the crystal quality on both sides.
This should reduce recombination of holes and electrons
 Back contact
• For thin film solar cells, the back contact is applied to the
p-type semiconductor in both superstrate and substrate
configurations.
• In order to form an ohmic contact, the metal used for contact
should have a work function higher than that of the p-type
semiconductor.
• This aligns the metal Fermi level with the upper valence band
edge.
• In the substrate configuration of CIGS solar cells, Mo is used
as the contacting material because of its relatively inert
nature during the highly corrosive CIGS deposition conditions.
Mo forms an ohmic contact via the formation of a thin
intermediate MoSe2 layer formed during the CIGS deposition
Sunpower SPR-425E-WHT-D (425W) Solar Panel

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The Nominal Operating Cell Temperature (NOCT) is defined as the temperature
reached by open circuited cells in a module under the conditions as listed below:

Irradiance on cell surface = 800 W/m2

Air Temperature = 20°C
Wind Velocity = 1 m/s
Mounting = open back side.

The PTC rating represents a more real life condition of

1,000 watts per square meter solar irradiance,
1.5 Air Mass, and
20 degrees C. ambient temperature at 10 meters above ground level and
wind speed of 1 meter per second.