Physics SEMICONDUCTORS

Solar cell

A solar cell is basically a p-n junction which generates emf when solar radiation falls on the p-n junction. It works on the same principle
(photovoltaic effect) as the photodiode, except that no external bias is applied and the junction area is kept much larger for solar radiation to be incident because we are interested in more power. A simple p-n junction solar cell is shown in Fig. A p-Si wafer of about 300 μm is taken over which a thin layer (~0.3 μm) of n-Si is grown on one-side by diffusion process. The other side of p-Si is coated with a metal (back contact). On the top of n-Si layer, metal finger electrode (or metallic grid) is deposited. This acts as a front contact. The metallic grid occupies only a very small fraction of the cell area (<15%) so that light can be incident on the cell from the top. The generation of emf by a solar cell, when light falls on, it is due to the following three basic processes: generation, separation and collection -
(i) generation of e-h pairs due to light (with hν > Eg) close to the junction;
(ii) separation of electrons and holes due to electric field of the depletion region. Electrons are swept to n-side and holes to p-side;
(iii) the electrons reaching the n-side are collected by the front contact and holes reaching p-side are collected by the back contact. Thus p-side becomes positive and n-side becomes negative giving rise to photovoltage. When an external load is connected as shown in the Fig (a) a photocurrent `I_L` flows through the load. A typical I-V characteristics of a solar cell is shown in the Fig.(b).
Note :The I - V characteristics of solar cell is drawn in the fourth quadrant of the coordinate axes. This is because a solar cell does not draw current but supplies the same to the load. Semiconductors with band gap close to 1.5 eV are ideal materials for solar cell fabrication. Solar cells are made with semiconductors like Si (Eg = 1.1 eV), GaAs (Eg = 1.43 eV), CdTe (Eg = 1.45 eV), CuInSe2 (Eg = 1.04
eV), etc. The important criteria for the selection of a material for solar cell fabrication are

(i) band gap (~1.0 to 1.8 eV),
(ii) high optical absorption `(~104 cm^(-1)), `
(iii)electrical conductivity,
(iv) availability of the raw material.
(v) cost. Note that sunlight is not always
required for a solar cell. Any light with photon energies greater than the bandgap will do. Solar cells are used to power electronic devices in satellites and space vehicles and also as power supply to some calculators. Production of low-cost photovoltaic cells for large-scale solar energy is a topic

Zener diode

It is a special purpose semiconductor diode, named after its inventor C. Zener. It is designed to operate under reverse bias in the breakdown region and used as a voltage regulator. The symbol for Zener diode is shown in Fig.(a). Zener diode is fabricated by heavily doping both p-, and n- sides of the junction. Due to this, depletion region formed is very thin `(<10^(-6) m)` and the electric field of the junction is extremely high `(~5-10^6 V/m)` even for a small reverse bias voltage of about 5V. The I-V characteristics of a Zener diode is shown in Fig. (b). It is seen that when the applied reverse bias voltage(V) reaches the breakdown voltage (Vz) of the Zener diode, there is a large change in the current. Note that after the breakdown voltage `V_z`, a large change in the current can be produced by almost insignificant change in the reverse bias voltage. In other words, Zener voltage remains constant, even though current through the Zener diode varies over a wide range. This property of the Zener diode is used for regulating supply voltages so that they are constant.

Let us understand how reverse current suddenly increases at the breakdown voltage. We know that reverse current is due to the flow of electrons (minority carriers) from p - n and holes from n - p. As the reverse bias voltage is increased, the electric field at the junction becomes significant. When the reverse bias voltage `V = V_z`, then the electric field strength is high enough to pull valence electrons from the host atoms on the p-side which are accelerated to n-side. These electrons account for high current observed at the breakdown. The emission of electrons from the host atoms due to the high electric field is known as internal field emission or field ionisation. The electric field required for field ionisation is of the order of `10^6 V/m.`

`text(Zener diode as a voltage regulator)`

We know that when the ac input voltage of a rectifier fluctuates, its rectified output also fluctuates. To get a constant dc voltage from the DC unregulated output of a rectifier, we use a Zener diode. The circuit diagram of a voltage regulator using a Zener diode is shown in Fig. The unregulated dc voltage (filtered output of a rectifier) is connected to the Zener diode through a series resistance `R_s` such that the Zener diode is reverse biased. If the input voltage increases, the current through `R_s` and Zener diode also increases. This increases the voltage drop across Rs without any change in the voltage across the Zener diode. This is because in the breakdown region, Zener voltage remains constant even though the current through the Zener diode changes.

Similarly, if the input voltage decreases, the current through Rs and Zener diode also decreases. The voltage drop across Rs decreases without any change in the voltage across the Zener diode. Thus any increase/ decrease in the input voltage results in, increase/ decrease of the voltage drop across Rs without any change in voltage across the Zener diode. Thus the Zener diode acts as a voltage regulator. We have to select the Zener diode according to the required output voltage and accordingly the series resistance `R_s.`