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Solar Cell Materials

Solar cells can be made from a wide range of semiconductor materials. In the following sections, we will discuss:

• Silicon (Si)—including single-crystalline Si, multicrystalline Si, and amorphous Si
• Polycrystalline thin films—including copper indium diselenide (CIS), cadmium telluride (CdTe), and thin-film silicon
• Single-crystalline thin films—including high-efficiency material such as gallium arsenide (GaAs)

First, though, we provide an overview of aspects that relate to all materials. This discussion serves as a basis for the more detailed section on individual materials. The aspects we will cover are crystallinity, absorption, bandgap, and complexity of manufacturing.

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, can come in various forms: single-crystalline, multicrystalline, polycrystalline, or amorphous. In a single-crystal material, the atoms making 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. One classification scheme for silicon uses approximate crystal size and also includes the methods typically used to grow or deposit such material.

Type of Silicon	Abbreviation	Crystal Size Range	Deposition Method
Single-crystal silicon	sc-Si	>10cm	Czochralski, float zone
Multicrystalline silicon	mc-Si	1mm-10cm	Cast, sheet, ribbon
Polycrystalline silicon	pc-Si	1mm-1mm	Chemical-vapor deposition
Microcrystalline silicon	mc-Si	<1mm	Plasma deposition

Absorbtion

The absorption coefficient of a material indicates how far light having 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. Again, the absorption coefficient of a solar cell depends on two factors: the material making up the cell, and the wavelength or energy of the light being absorbed. Solar cell material has an abrupt edge in its absorption coefficient. The reason is that light whose energy is below the material's bandgap cannot free an electron. And so, it isn't absorbed.

Bandgap

The bandgap of a semiconductor material is an amount of energy. Specifically, it's 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 E^g) is the energy difference between the conduction band and valence band.

Complexity of Manufacturing

The most important parts of a solar cell are the semiconductor layers, because this is where electrons are freed and the electric current is created—it's the active layer "where the action is," so to speak. Several different semiconductor materials are used to make the layers in different types of solar cells, and each material has its benefits and drawbacks.

The cost and complexity of manufacturing may vary across these materials and device structures based on many factors, including deposition in a vacuum environment, amount and type of material utilized, number of steps involved, need to move cells into different deposition chambers or processing processes, and others.

To learn more about PV devices, see:

• Solar Cell Structures