Spring 2011, Course Information
PHYS 6980, Fundamentals of Solar Cells 
PHYS 4400, Principles and Varieties of Solar Energy

Instructors: Randy Ellingson and Mike Heben

Introduction, Syllabus, and General Information (updated March 22, 2011)

Class Schedule:

Tuesday, Thursday, 12:30 - 1:45 pm in R1 2000N

Final Exam:

Tuesday, May 3, 2011, 12:30 - 2:30 pm in R1 2000N

Projects (teams and topics):  Project Information

Lectures:

• Week of Jan. 11

• Week of Jan. 18 (no lectures)

• Week of Jan. 25 -

  • PV Economics

  • PV History

  • Goal of 1$ Per Watt

• Week of Feb. 1 -

  • Fundamental Solar Cell Properties

  • Bonds, Bands, Effective Mass, Transport, and Generation/Recombination

• Week of Feb. 8 -

  • Detailed Balance, Concentrated PV

  • The p-n Homojunction

  • Heterojunctions (introduction)

• Week of Feb. 15 -

  • The p-n junction (continued)

  • More junctions

• Week of February 22

  • Crystalline and Polycrystalline Silicon PV Technology

• Week of March 1

  • Semiconductor Nanocrystals for Photovoltaics

  • CdTe/CdS Solar Cells, Prof. Al Compaan, Distinguished University Professor, Emeritus, of Physics

• Week of March 15

  • Special Colloquium from Dr. Yanfa Yan, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

  • Nanotubes for Photovoltaics

• Week of March 22

  • Solar Cell Materials and Device Characterization - #1

  • CuInGaSe₂/CdS Solar Cells

• Week of March 29

  • Special Colloquium from Dr. Loucas Tsakalakos, General Electric

  • CIGS Substrate Considerations, Solar Cell Materials and Device Characterization - #2

• Week of April 5

  • Amorphous and thin film Si:H PV

  • Quantum Dot Solar Cells (lecture also given at CWRU, April 11, 2011)

• Week of April 12

  • No class

  • Glass in Modern Photovoltaics, Dr. David Strickler, Pilkington North America

• Week of April 19

  • no class (Ohio Innovation Summit)

  • Project presentations:  1st:  thin film Si;  2nd:  CIGS;  3rd:  CdTe

• Week of April 26 (last week of classes)

  • Two-Part lecture on (1) Dye-Sensitized Photoconversion, and (2) Upconversion Photochemistry, Dr. Felix Castellano, Professor of Chemistry, BGSU

  • Project presentations:  1st:  c-Si;  2nd:  multi-junction III-V;  3rd:  OPV

Quizzes:

• Quiz #1, Jan. 27, 2011

• Quiz #2, Feb. 8, 2011

• Quiz #3, Feb. 17, 2011

• Quiz #4, March 3, 2011

• Quiz #5, March 31, 2011

• Quiz #6, April 14, 2011

• Quiz #7, April 28, 2011

Homework: