Silicon Solar Cell Research

Photovoltaic is the primary method of converting sunlight into electricity. At present, the main photovoltaic devices are silicon solar cells, Gallium-Arsenic solar cells, dye-sensitized solar cells and thin film solar cells. Within these devices, silicon solar cells are the main technology. Silicon solar cells can be divided into 3 classes: mono-crystalline silicon solar cells, multi-crystalline silicon solar cells and amorphous-crystalline silicon solar cells. Within these silicon solar cells, multi-crystalline silicon solar cells are used most widely. It is because mono-crystalline material is expensive and the cost of generating electricity is high; although amorphous-crystalline material is cheap, the conversion efficiency is too low. Multi-crystalline silicon solar cell is the trade-off between cost and conversion efficiency. We firstly present the core of generating electricity for all of the silicon solar cells: semiconductor physics of p-n junction. So, it is feasible to recognize the light-electricity conversion principle of the silicon solar cells in general.Considering the two aspects of bringing down the cost and improving efficiency, we have researched the Edge-defined Film-fed Growth (EFG) manufacturing method of silicon wafers, Rapid Thermal Processing (RTP) technology of silicon wafers, surface passivation method of silicon wafers and acidic texturing of multi-crystalline silicon solar cells. Within these methods, the EFG manufacturing method and RTP technology are directly relative to the cost; surface passivation method of silicon wafers and acidic texturing of multi-crystalline silicon solar cells can directly influence the cell efficiency. All these researches are a summary of the development of silicon solar cells. It can be used as reference in the science and engineering of photovoltaic. Finally, based on certain physics model and some hypothetical conditions, data simulation of computer was carried out on two experiments: one is the relationship between the light-generated current of silicon solar cells and the parameters of silicon wafers; the other is the mean reflection coefficient of silicon solar cells with single antireflection coating. It is helpful to validate and discover the basic behavior of silicon solar cells.