An Introduction to Solar Cell

Introduction: Solar cells (Photocell)

Solar cell or photocell at present furnishes the most important role of long

duration power supply for satellites and space vehicles. Solar cells have also been

successfully employed in small-scale terrestrial applications, therefore it is important

to develop and use alternative energy resources. The solar cell or photo cell is

considered as a major candidate for obtaining energy from the sun, since it can

directly convert light energy to electrical energy with high conversion efficiency, can

provide nearly permanent power at low operating cost and is virtually free of

pollution. Recently, research and development of low-cost, flat panel solar cells, thin

film devices, concentrator systems and many innovative concepts have increased.

The solar cell was first developed by Chapin, Fuller and Pearson (1954) using

a diffused silicon p-n junction, subsequently the cadmium sulfide solar cell was

developed by Reynolds et al (1954). Hovel (1975) has given a comprehensive

treatment on basic solar cell characteristics Backus (1974) has compiled a volume of

papers on solar cells prior to 1974. Pulfrey and Johnston (1978) have reviewed the

photovoltaic power generations and Bachmann (1979) discussed the material aspects

of solar cell.

Solar cells fall in a group of devices called opto-electronic devices. Opto-

electronic derives are extensively used as light detectors and as sources of light. When

used as photo detector the device converts light energy into electrical energy. The

extremely useful photo detector is solar cell, which is used to generate electric power.

The existence of energy gap in a semiconductor is the basic property which is used in

the optoelectronic devices.

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Solar Energy as an Alternative Energy Source:

The world quest for clean and alternative energy sources has encouraged large

research activities and development in the fields of solar energy, which results in

photovoltaic solar cells. However, at present the economics sets limitations for large-

scale use of solar cells - the price for existing commercial devices being about ten

times more than conventional energy production methods. This is even more acute -

especially in the Third World - where an estimated, about 2 billion people, mostly

from remote and sparsely populated areas, currently live without electricity. As

electrical systems are selected to meet these people's electricity need, the

environmental ramifications of the generating systems become increasingly

important. Photovoltaic systems generate electricity without emitting greenhouse

gases, and result in global, regional and local air quality advantages.

At present, the most promising techniques for solar energy utilization are

based on photothermal and photovoltaic conversions. In photothermal approach, the

sunlight is absorbed by a surface to generate heat. Such a surface must fulfill certain

optical criteria to achieve a good efficiency. While in the second approach, the solar

energy is directly converted to electricity by means of photovoltaic effect. When light

of suitable energy is absorbed by a semiconductor, electron-hole pairs are generated.

The role of photovoltaic techniques is to separate these pairs and their collection such

that an electric current flows in an external circuit.

From purely technological point of view, solar energy conversion systems are

potentially capable of producing the bulk of the world future energy demands. For

example, solar energy flux received by the Earth is equal to 3x10 24J/year. In one week,

the planet receives the equivalent of all of its non-solar energy reserves. Solar cells

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with 10% efficiencies, covering 0.1% of the globe's surface, would fully satisfy

mankind's energy needs. Majority of the conventional photovoltaic cells, for solar

energy conversion into electricity are solid state electronic devices, having much in

common with transistors and integrated circuit chips – which employs elaborate and

expensive processes like slicing, diffusion, surface passivation and texturing,

antireflecting coatings and metallization – that are normally required for fabricating

solid state devices. As a result, even when using amorphous thin-film silicon layers,

the standard solar cells remain confined to niche markets and do not economically

compete for base load utility electricity generation. It is this deviation that has

provoked extensive research towards improving on the existing and new materials for

developing solar PV devices with improved performance and better efficiency for

harnessing solar radiation i.e., a cost-effective solar cell. Thin film solar cells offer

just such an option.

Thin film solar cells:

Besides performance criteria, large-area thin film solar cells have to be

economically viable for terrestrial applications. This makes it necessary to exploit

both thin and thick film techniques, that satisfy the criteria of simplicity, cost-

effectiveness, large-area uniformity and controlled deposition, that yield well-defined

structural, metallurgical and electro-optical properties. It is expected that thin films

solar cells will produce the necessary power to enable it to compete effectively with

the conventional sources of electricity.

Thin film solar cells are appropriate, since thin film materials absorbs sunlight

extremely well, so that only very thin active layer is required (about 1 micron as

compared to 100 micron or so for the crystalline systems). As a consequence, far less

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PV material is needed, which greatly decreases the production costs leading to

cheaper solar cells. Moreover, the techniques used to produce thin films are

particularly well suited for mass production - i.e., a continuous process in which the

active materials are sprayed and/or screen printed directly on to the glass or metal

substrate. Furthermore, the electro-optical properties of these thin film coatings

depend on their process parameters, and hence, there is need for development of a

suitable system which can enable a researcher to vary certain parameters while

carrying out the coating of a thin film system.

p–n junction Solar cell :

Principle of p-n junction solar cell:

In its simplest form, the solar cell consists of a junction formed between n-

type and p-type semiconductors, either of the same material (homojunction) or

different materials (heterojunction). The band structure of the two differently doped

sides with respect to their Fermi levels can be seen in Figure 1

Figure 1: Band structure of differently-doped semiconductors

When the two halves are brought together, the Fermi levels on either side are

forced in to coincidence, causing the valence and conduction bands to bend (Figure

2). These bent bands represent a built-in electric field over what is referred to as the

depletion region. When a photon, with energy greater than the band gap of the

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semiconductor, falls on the junction of the solar cell, it may be absorbed by the

material. This absorption results in a band-to-band electronic transition, so an

electron-hole pair is produced. If these carriers can diffuse to the depletion region

before they recombine, then they are separated by the electric field, causing one

quantum of charge to flow through an external load. This is the origin of the solar

cell's photocurrent, and is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 2: Hetero-junction band-bending

A photoconductor or photodiode converts light energy incident on them to

electrical energy and the effect is called photovoltaic effect. To study the electrical

power generation we consider a p-n junction (Fig.1).

In a p-n junction the barrier voltage opposes the diffusion of majority

carriers from one side to the other and the minority carrier densities in the bulk region

of the junction is at the thermal equilibrium value. When such a junction is

illuminated the minority and majority carrier densities increase in the bulk semi

conductor on both side of the depletion layer due to optical generation. As a result

field is developed within the junction is from n-side to p-side, hence holes generated

in the n-side moves toward p-side. Similarly electrons generated in the p-side move

towards n-side and become majority carrier. An additional voltage appears across the

junction, which opposes the flow of optically generated carriers. This additional

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voltage is in opposite direction to the barrier voltage, and hence reduces the barrier

voltage. This change in barrier voltage appears as measurable voltage across the

junction.

The effect of optical generation can be quantitatively found by writing

down the diffusion equation in presence of optical generation. In p-n junction optical

generation is accompanied by diffusion and recombination. If ‘g’ is the generation

rate, the diffusion equation for holes on the n-side is given by

d 2 (δ p) δp
Dp 2
=  g (1)
dx p

The solution of equation (1) is

p(x) = C exp (-x/Lp) + gp (2)

Where, Lp =  p D p is the diffusion length of holes in the n-side.

The excess carrier densities at the edge of the depletion layer (x=0) is

related to the voltage applied to the junction V, by the expression

p= pno {exp (qV/kT) - 1} (3)

Therefore,

C= pno {exp (qV/kT) - 1} - gp (4)

where pno is the equilibrium density of holes in the n-side.

Therefore, p(x) = [pno {exp (qV/kT) - gp }]exp(-x/Lp) + gp (5)

Similarly, n(x) = [pno {exp (qV/kT) - gn }]exp(x/Ln) + gn (6)

When the applied voltage is zero, i.e., when the diode is shorted the excess

hole and election densities on the n & p sides of the junction are zero.

The current flowing when the junction is shorted, is given by

dp
Ip = - qADp dx = qADp gp/Lp = qAgLp (7)
x0

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 dn
and In = - qADn dx = qADn gn/Ln = qAgLn (8)
x0

Therefore, the total current is

IL = Ip + In = - qAg(Lp + Ln) (9)

negative sign indicates that the current flows out from p-side of the

junction.

Equation (7), (8) and (9) implies that the current is due to the carriers

generated within the diffusion length on either side of the depletion layer. The carriers

generated in the both semiconductor at a distance more than the diffusion length do

not contribute to the current as they are lost in recombination.

The current through the junction when V is not zero is given by

D p p no Dnnpo
I = qA (  ) {exp(qV/kT) - 1} - IL (10)
Lp Ln

= Io{exp (qV/kT) - 1} - IL (11)

Io is the reverse saturation current i.e. the current through the junction has

two components

(a) IL due to optical generation flowing from n-side to p-side within the

junction.

(b) Io{exp (qV/kT) - 1} due to forward bias.

Now from equation (11) the open circuit voltage Voc can be give by the relation

kT IL
Voc = q log ( Io  1)

(12)

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 The I-V characteristic of the illuminated junction passes through the fourth

quadrant indicating that the power is delivered by the diode as evident from equation

(11).

The ability of an illuminated junction to deliver power is made use of in a

solar cell, used to convert solar energy into electrical energy. In the operation of a

solar cell the main points are

(a) power delivered

(b) efficiency of conversion

Construction:

A thin layer of p-type semiconductor is deposited on an n-type substance.

Contact to p-type layer is made through narrow stripes so that illuminated area is not

reduced by the presence of contacts.

The p-layer thickness should be less than diffusion length because the incident

radiation should reach the junction, as the photo generated current is due to carriers

generated within a diffusion length on either side of the depletion layer. The solar

radiation has wide range of frequency spectrum extending from infrared to ultraviolet.

So to have a cell which can convert maximum solar energy we have to have a material

that absorb maximum solar energy.

GaAs is one wide band gap semiconductor used in solar cells operated in

center space.

Si is a narrow band gap semiconductor used in solar cells operated in the

surface of the earth.

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 Si is preferable because its diffusion length for holes & electrons are larger

than GaAs. An ideal illuminated junction can be represented by an equivalent circuit

as shown in the fig 4.(a) and 4.(b).

IL V IL V

Fig. 4(a) Fig. 4(b)

Fig. 4(a) and (b) : Equivalent circuit for an illuminating junction with series and shunt

resistance respectively.

There are two current generators in the equivalent circuit – a generator

representing photo-generated current and the other representing the forward-biased

current. If V is voltage across the junction then the power delivered P is given by

P = VI = V(Io{exp (qV/kT) - 1} - IL) (13)

dP
Power is maximum, when 0
dV

IL qVm qVm
Therefore,  1  exp (1  )
Io kT kT

(14)

Where, Vm is the voltage when the power delivered is maximum.

Putting the value of IL from (13) to (14) we get the current I m where power

output is maximum, i.e.,

Ioq qVm
Im  Vm exp
kT kT

Maximum power that obtained from a solar cell is, thus

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 Ioq 2 qVm
Pmax  VmIm  Vm exp
kT kT

The ratio of maximum power output to the incident optical power input gives

the efficiency of power conversion. If Pin is the optical power incident on the diode in

watt /sq. cm., the optical power input is PinA. Therefore the efficiency is

VmIm Ioq Vm2 qVm

Ioq Vm2 IL 1
(1  )
= AkT qVm Io Pin
(1  )
kT

where, A is the area of the cell.

The theoretical efficiency for Si & GaAs cell is about 22 to 28%. The practical

efficiency is about half the theoretical value. There are loses due to

(1) reflection at the surface of the cell

(2) Series resistance.

The reflection at the surface is minimised by putting antireflection coating.

The cell always has a series resistance due to the thickness of the

semiconductor material on either side of the junction. As one of the region made thin

for the incident radiation to reach the junction the series resistance is determined by

the thin layer. If Rs is this series resistance of the cell, the equivalent circuit has the

form as shown.

The current I in the circuit is given by

q(V - IRs)
I  Io[exp  1] - IL
kT

The power output is considerably reduced due to series resistance. The

ratio of the output power to maximum available power is about 0.7 for a series

resistance of 1 ohm, while the ratio becomes 0.1 for a resistance of 10 ohms. As the

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series resistance arises out of the bulk resistance of the thin p-layer on the top, a

compromise has to be made between optical absorption and the series resistance

which decreases with increase in thickness. Since an increase in thickness increases

optical absorption as well as series resistance.

References:

1. Thin Film Solar Cells Fabrication, Characterizationand Applications

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