ECE 467 Solar Cells and Their Applications

Midterm Exam I

Due Feb. 27th, 2015

Name:

This is a Take Home exam. Do not collaborate with any other students, faculty, staff, or
other person or entity.

The exam is due by 5:00 PM on Feb. 27th, 2015. You must submit your exam electronically.

Detailed descriptions of how you solved the problem will get you maximum partial credit if
your final answer is wrong.

A table of commonly used constants and semiconductor parameters is at the end of the exam.

Unless noted otherwise, assume room temperature conditions, i.e. T = 300K

You may use Excel, MATLAB, MATHCAD, or any other mathematical software for any of
the problems. Please do so. Submit your source code electronically with your exam.

ECE 467 Solar Cells and Their Applications

Midterm Exam I

Due Feb. 27th, 2015

Name:

1. (15 points) A Si sample is 5 m thick. At a wavelength of = 620 nm, Si has an absorption

coefficient of = 3520 cm-1. The ASTM standard specifies a solar irradiance of 1.4739
W/m2/nm at = 620 nm. The sample has an area of 1 cm2.
(a) What percentage of light at this wavelength will be absorbed, assuming perfect antireflection coatings?
(b) What is the energy of a single photon at = 620 nm?
(c) How many photons with = 620 nm will be absorbed by this sample in one second?

2. (15 points) A latitude tilted solar collector in Tampa, Florida has an annual average solar
insolation of 5373.5 Wh/day.
(a) What is the average solar energy density per day at this location, in units of peak sun
hours?
(b) If this solar collector is a photovoltaic module, with a 1 m2 area, and has an efficiency of
15%, how much energy would it generate annually, in units of kWh?
(c) A horizontal collector would see an annual average solar insolation of 4864 Wh/day.
What is the percentage improvement of tilting the collector to latitude?
3. (10 points) A Si sample is 5 mm long, 500 m wide and 100 m thick. It is known to be
doped with 1015cm-3 B atoms. n = 1200 cm2/Vs and p = 450 cm2/Vs.
(a) What is the resistivity of the sample?
(b) What is the current density if a 0.2V voltage is applied along the length axis, l?

h = 0.1 mm

l = 5 mm
w = 0.5 mm

4. (20 points) A GaAs diode is doped with ND = 1018 cm-3, and NA = 2x1016 cm-3. The n+ region
is wn = 2 m thick and the p-region is wp = 10 m thick. The diode is maintained at T = 300
K. The diode has an area of 10-3 cm2.
Dn = 155 cm2/s, Dp = 6.5 cm2/s, n = p = 5 s. ni,GaAs(300K) = 1.8x106 cm-3
(a) Calculate the built-in potential Vbi.
(b) What is the saturation current density Jsat?
(c) Calculate the forward bias current for VF = 0.6 V.

ECE 467 Solar Cells and Their Applications

Midterm Exam I

Due Feb. 27th, 2015

Name:

5. (15 points) A solar cell is made of a semiconductor with a bandgap of 1.42 eV at room
temperature. The measured open circuit voltage at AM 1.5 GT 1 sun intensity is Voc = 0.805
V, and the measured short circuit current is Isc = 32.84 mA for a 1 cm2 x 1 cm2 device. The
maximum power delivered by this solar cell at the same intensity is 23 mW.
(a) What is the overall efficiency of this solar cell, 1234?
(b) What is the fill factor, 4?
(c) What is the output voltage efficiency, 3?
(d) Calculate the overall photon absorption efficiency, 12, based on your results above.
6. (25 points) A Si sample is 20 m thick and has an area of 1 m2. Assume the sample is coated
with an ideal broadband anti-reflection coating, and that the back surface is 100% reflective.
Using the absorption coefficient data for Si posted on BlackBoard, and the AM1.5 GT
spectrum, estimate:
(a) The total power density absorbed by the sample in unit time
(b) The overall photon absorption efficiency, 12.

ECE 467 Solar Cells and Their Applications

Midterm Exam I

Due Feb. 27th, 2015

Name:
Commonly used constants:
Plancks constant:

h = 6.625 x 10-34 J.s

= 4.135 x 10-15 eV.s

Reduced Plancks constant: = 1.054 x 10-34 J.s

Boltzmanns constant:

kB = 1.38 x 10-23 J/K = 8.62 x 10-5 eV/K

Free electron rest mass:

m0 = 9.11 x 10-31 kg

Electronic charge magnitude: q = 1.6 x 10-19 C

Dielectric constant:

0 = 8.854x10-14 F/cm

Commonly used values for Si at room temperature, 300K:

Bandgap:

Eg = 1.12 eV

Intrinsic carrier density:

ni = 1.0x1010 cm-3

Electron D.O.S. eff. mass:

m*e,DOS = 1.08m0

Electron conductivity e.m.:

m*e,cond = 0.26m0

Hole D.O.S. eff. mass:

m*h,DOS = 0.56m0

Hole conductivity eff. mass: m*h,cond = 0.37m0

Relative dielectric constant: r = 11.7
Eff. D.O.S. in cond. band:

Nc = 2.8x1019 cm-3

Eff. D.O.S. in valence band: Nv = 1.04x1019 cm-3

Max. electron mobility:

n,max = 1350 cm2/V.s

Max. hole mobility:

p,max = 480 cm2/V.s