PHOTOVOLTAIC SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Contenuti: Introduction to the course
Greenhouse effect and main greenhouse gases, impact of fossil energy sources.
Photovoltaic technology in the national and international energy landscape
Photovoltaic roadmap, performance, costs and future prospects
The physics of the solar cell: Fundamental properties of the semiconductors, the photoelectric effect, the PN junction, mechanisms of recombination of the gaps-electron pairs, theoretical foundations of the functioning of a solar cell.
Fundamentals of optics: Snell's law, reflectivity, absorption and diffractive effects (Anti reflection coating).
Basic parameters of a solar cell: I-V characteristic, fill factor, efficiency, spectral response etc.
The silicon cell production chain
Production technologies and the characteristics of photovoltaic modules.
Performance calculation of photovoltaic modules and arrays in different conditions of use.
Photovoltaic systems: design and sizing of grid-connected and island photovoltaic systems.
The current silicon market for photovoltaic applications
Fundamental properties of silicon
Polysilicon production: Siemens process, Union Carbide process, Elkem process
UMG silicon production: costs, material characteristics, prospects for the future.
Growth processes: CZ for monocrystalline and DSS for multicrystalline. The FZ process.
Innovative growth processes: mono-like casting
Wafering techniques: squaring and wafering with wire saws and prospects for diamond wire saws
The production process of cells and modules on crystalline silicon substrate.
Thin film technology: amorphous silicon, CdTe, CIS and CIGS, nanocrystalline silicon
Production processes of thin film modules with particular reference to the most widespread technologies: Amorphous silicon and CdTe.
High performance III-V type cells.
Concentrated photovoltaic systems (outline).
The use of multi-junction cells in solar concentrations.
Measurement and characterization of cells and modules.
Outline of the FIT system for the incentive of photovoltaic systems.