1. week:
Lecture A.: Review of the course, subject requirements. Significance of the renewable energy sources and solar cells, overall comparison of renewable energy sources. Interaction between fossil fuels and environment.
Lecture B: Basics of solid state physics, main parameters of semiconductors, photoelectric effect. I. 2. week: Lecture A: Characteristics of hydropower and wind power, pumped- storage power plants, tidal plants, wind generators, offshore wind generators.
Lecture B: Basics of solid state physics, main parameters of semiconductors, photoelectric effect. II.
3. week:
Lecture A: Characteristics of geothermal energy, comparison. Biomass characteristics, utilization methods.
Lecture B: N and P type semiconductors, p-n junction, illuminated p-n junction, minority carrier diffusion, generation and recombination phenomena.
4. week:
Lecture A: Operation of semiconductor based solar cells, solar cell model, theoretical efficiency, intensity and temperature dependence.
Lecture B: I-V characteristics of solar cells, maximum power point, and operation under load.
5..week:
Lecture A: Spectral behaviour and response of solar cells.
Lecture B: Connection between spectral sensitivity and manufacturing technology, thermal behaviour of spectral response.
6. week:
Lecture A: Thermal utilization of solar energy, solar collectors.
Lecture B: Basic solar cell structures, importance of the BSF, metal-semiconductor contact.
7. week:
Lecture A: Active and passive usage of solar energy in buildings. Building integrated photovoltaic systems.
Lecture B: Impact of parasitic parameters, connection between raw material defects and solar cell operation.
8. week:
Lecture A: The issue of alternative fuels, the necessity of energy concentration, bio fuel usage and its limitations. Lecture B: Effect of concentration on solar cells, concentrator systems.
9. week:
Lecture A: Manufacturing technology of solar cells: raw materials, raw material qualification and methods, manufacturing of raw materials, crystalline thin film technologies.
Lecture B: Manufacturing technology of solar cells: crystalline solar cell doping methods, physical basics of diffusion mechanisms, solid and gas phase doping, selective emitter technology.
10. week:
Lecture A: Manufacturing technology of solar cells: Physical and chemical deposition methods, vacuum evaporation, sputtering, CVD, LP-CVD, vacuum systems.
Lecture B: Role and impact of the surface texturing, wet and dry chemical etching, physical basics of antireflexion coatings, one and multilayered antireflexion coatings, materials of ARC layers.
11. week:
Lecture A: Thin film solar cells: structure, operating principle, role and manufacturing of the transparent conducting layer, amorphous Si solar cells, CIGS and CdTe structures, degradation of amorphous structures.
Lecture B: Special and novel solar cell structures, multi-junction solar cells, III-V heterojunction semiconductor solar cells, spherical structure, nanostructures, and organic solar cells.
12. week:
Lecture A: Characterisation of solar cells, measurement of the I-V characteristics, spectral response measurements, sun simulators, advanced measurement techniques and equipment, noncontact measurement methods.
Lecture B: Assembly of solar cells into modules, practical usage in stand alone systems (terrestrial and space applications), energy storage and batteries.
13. week:
Lecture A: Issue of grid connection, application of inverters, grid reliability.
Lecture B: The significance of solar tracking. Types of solar trackers, energy balance.
14. week:
Lecture A: Industrial visit
Mid-semester test
