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Silicon Thin Film Solar Cells

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Course Features

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Duration

5 hours

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Delivery Method

Online

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Available on

Lifetime Access

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Accessibility

Mobile, Desktop, Laptop

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Language

English

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Subtitles

English

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Level

Advanced

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Effort

1 hour per week

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Teaching Type

Self Paced

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Video Content

5 hours

Course Description

The course covers a broad overview of solar cells made from silicon thin films. This MOOC is part of the photovoltaic series at Ecole Polytechnique. Photovoltaic Solar Energy covers the main aspects of photovoltaic energy. The detailed description of the silicon-crystalline solar cells is found in the "Physics of Silicon Solar Cells".

Here is a short overview of the operation of solar cells. There are many differences between crystalline and disordered semiconductors, especially in the way they behave in band structures and their doping mechanism. Silane plasma is used to deposit thin silicon films that are less than one um thick. This allows for hydrogen incorporation. We discuss the growth mechanism, including how to make partially crystallized thin film that appears as a mix of nanocrystallites and amorphous tissue.

We review the effects of semiconductor properties on solar cell behavior. Both amorphous silicon and nanocrystalline silica are optically complementary. The plasma process can be used to prepare multijunctions with conversion efficiency of around 13-15%. Plasma processes can also be used to make solar cells on large areas of glass or other flexible substrates.

It was also demonstrated that heterojunctions of crystalline and non-crystalline silicon materials are possible to make high-efficiency solar cells (approximately 25%).

Course Overview

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Hands-On Training,Instructor-Moderated Discussions

Skills You Will Gain

Course Instructors

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Pr. Bernard Drevillon

Professor at Ecole polytechnique

After a PhD in High Enery Physics at University of Paris-Sud (1973) and a few years of experimental research in this field at CERN (Geneva), Bernard DrA©villon turned to Material research for solar c...
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Erik Johnson

CNRS Researcher

Erik Johnson is a CNRS researcher at the LPICM, located at the Ecole Polytechnique. In addition to his passion for teaching the physics and engineering of solar cells, his research interests focus on...

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