Lecture

Generation and Recombination

Graph Chat

Chat with Graph Search

Ask any question about EPFL courses, lectures, exercises, research, news, etc. or try the example questions below.

DISCLAIMER: The Graph Chatbot is not programmed to provide explicit or categorical answers to your questions. Rather, it transforms your questions into API requests that are distributed across the various IT services officially administered by EPFL. Its purpose is solely to collect and recommend relevant references to content that you can explore to help you answer your questions.

Description

This lecture covers the fundamentals of photovoltaic devices, focusing on the processes of generation and recombination. It explains how charges do not accumulate to infinity, leading to the necessity of recombination. The lecture delves into the net recombination rate, the definition of lifetime, thermalization effects, and the concept of quasi Fermi-levels. It also discusses the implications of quasi Fermi-level splitting, lifetime measurement procedures, and the impact of different recombination processes in semiconductors. The lecture concludes with examples and exercises related to lifetime measurement, radiative recombination, Auger recombination, Shockley-Read-Hall recombination, and surface recombination.

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Energy engineering

Solar power: Topics in solar power

Related concepts (32)

Carrier generation and recombination

In the solid-state physics of semiconductors, carrier generation and carrier recombination are processes by which mobile charge carriers (electrons and electron holes) are created and eliminated. Carrier generation and recombination processes are fundamental to the operation of many optoelectronic semiconductor devices, such as photodiodes, light-emitting diodes and laser diodes. They are also critical to a full analysis of p-n junction devices such as bipolar junction transistors and p-n junction diodes.

Concentrator photovoltaics

Concentrator photovoltaics (CPV) (also known as concentration photovoltaics) is a photovoltaic technology that generates electricity from sunlight. Unlike conventional photovoltaic systems, it uses lenses or curved mirrors to focus sunlight onto small, highly efficient, multi-junction (MJ) solar cells. In addition, CPV systems often use solar trackers and sometimes a cooling system to further increase their efficiency. Systems using high-concentration photovoltaics (HCPV) possess the highest efficiency of all existing PV technologies, achieving near 40% for production modules and 30% for systems.

Crystalline silicon

Crystalline silicon or (c-Si) Is the crystalline forms of silicon, either polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si, consisting of small crystals), or monocrystalline silicon (mono-Si, a continuous crystal). Crystalline silicon is the dominant semiconducting material used in photovoltaic technology for the production of solar cells. These cells are assembled into solar panels as part of a photovoltaic system to generate solar power from sunlight. In electronics, crystalline silicon is typically the monocrystalline form of silicon, and is used for producing microchips.

Solar panel

A solar panel is a device that converts sunlight into electricity by using photovoltaic (PV) cells. PV cells are made of materials that generate electrons when exposed to light. The electrons flow through a circuit and produce direct current (DC) electricity, which can be used to power various devices or be stored in batteries. Solar panels are also known as solar cell panels, solar electric panels, or PV modules. Solar panels are usually arranged in groups called arrays or systems.

Solar cell

A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell, is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect, which is a physical phenomenon. It is a form of photoelectric cell, defined as a device whose electrical characteristics, such as current, voltage, or resistance, vary when exposed to light. Individual solar cell devices are often the electrical building blocks of photovoltaic modules, known colloquially as solar panels.

Related lectures (64)

Recombination Processes: Semiconductors

Explores recombination processes in semiconductors, including radiative, Auger, and Shockley-Read-Hall recombination, and their impact on semiconductor materials.

Generation and Recombination

Explores the fundamental concepts of generation and recombination in semiconductors for photovoltaic devices.

High Efficiency Solar Cells

Explores high efficiency solar cells, including C-Si and III-V junctions, epitaxial growth, and rear contact recombination.

Absorption, generation and recombination

Explores the optical properties of solar cells, focusing on absorption, reflection, and generation of electron-hole pairs.

Novel Concepts: Perovskite Materials