Seminar: Semiconductors
Topics for Winter Term 04/05

Team Assistant
General:
Dr. Riemenschneider
Date
We Will Focus on Solar Cells
Topics
Markets, Technologies, Companies - an Overview      
Solar Energy - what we get, we can use.      
Humans and Energy: Where it comes from, how much we use, where we are headed.      
Prices of Energy      
Solar Cells - History, where it is headed      
Basic Principles of Solar Cells and Solar Cell Moduls      
Basics: IV, efficiency , fill factor, etc.. Essential material parameters (doping, life time, absorption,...). Add series resistance, add parallel resistance; discuss. Temperature dependence of efficiency etc.      
Equivalent circuits, local variations of parameter.      
Making Moduls. Problem of series resistance, shadowing      
Crystaline Silicon Solar Cells      
Monocrystalline high-efficiency cells. Mass product vs. world record winners. n- vs. p-doping.      
Polycrystalline Cells. Making poly, making cells. Si shortage problem      
Sliver Cells and other specialities.      
The CIS Family      
CuInSe2and related materials. What makes them special?      
Give properties of materials and specifics of technology; Sputtering vs. CVD?      
Specifics of technology: Series connection, stability, ...      
Discuss the role of crystal lattice defects and of hydrogen passivation2      
Discuss related materials, pro and cons, e.g. HgCdTe systems      
Amorphous and Nanocrystalline Thin-Film Si Solar Cells      
Discuss amorphous Si cells. What went wrong?      
New developments. "Thin" and "Thick" Thin-Film cells.      
Potential and specifics      
Tandem Cell, "Nano Cells and Exotica      
Discuss tandem principle      
Examples for tandem cell development      
State of the art, potential for future      
New concepts with e.g. nanodots      
Characterization Techniques      
Characterizing a finished solar cell. Doing it with local information. Doing it in 1 s.      
Characterizing materials (e.g. poly Si wafers or CIS layers). Which parameters are important? How to measure? How to predict the quality of cells made with the material?      
Characterizing modules. Give some specific problems.      
       

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