The Illuminated p-n Junction

ELEG620: Solar Electric Systems University of Delaware, ECE Spring 2009 S. Bremner
The Illuminated pn Junction
• Generation re-visited
– Basic requirements
– Optical Generation
– Absorption Coefficient
– Optical Generation Rate
• The Illuminated pn Junction
– IV equation
– Physical Meaning of I0
– What is going on?
• Different Operating Conditions
– Short circuit condition
– Open circuit condition
– Forward bias
– Reverse bias

ELEG620: Solar Electric Systems University of Delaware, ECE Spring 2009 S. Bremner
 Generation revisited
Basic requirements:
• Need to move carriers from one band to the other, so require:
– Energy increase greater than the band gap
– Must be a carrier available for excitation
– Must be a vacant state available for carrier to move to
• Energy can be provided by any means, however:
– Thermal energy only gives nett increase with thermal gradients across
device.
– Optical absorption does not have such a restriction – will consider ONLY
optical absorption
• Important to remember that each absorption process has its own inverse
process (we may not be able to observe them easily but they are there)
– In thermal equilibrium they balance exactly
– Steady state they are both present though one will be much stronger than the
other

ELEG620: Solar Electric Systems University of Delaware, ECE Spring 2009 S. Bremner
 Optical Generation
• Absorption of photons where the energy of each photon is given by:

• Energy of photon is primary determinant of what happens when it

hits the semiconductor
– If E < EG then (ideally) no absorption
– If E ≥ EG then absorption
• Energy above the band gap
is lost as heat to the crystal
lattice (phonons)
• Major fundamental losses
for a solar cell

excess holes

ELEG620: Solar Electric Systems University of Delaware, ECE Spring 2009 S. Bremner
 Optical Generation
• Recall that the bands are actually more complex and vary with
crystal momentum
– Direct and indirect band gaps arise
– Absorption for indirect band gap requires phonons, a three particle
process meaning lower absorption

ELEG620: Solar Electric Systems University of Delaware, ECE Spring 2009 S. Bremner
 Absorption Coefficient

• Absorption coefficient, α, is a measure of the probability that a photon is

absorbed
– Varies with wavelength
– Material specific
• Absorption depends on likelihood of transition – lower around the band
edge increasing further away
• Direct band gap materials generally
have more rapid increase in the
absorption – higher α
• Absorption depth 1/α is often
defined – intensity of light has
dropped to 1/e of initial

ELEG620: Solar Electric Systems University of Delaware, ECE Spring 2009 S. Bremner
 Absorption Coefficient

• Absorption coefficient of direct materials

has the form:
(hν − EG )
1
2

• Not so straight-forward for indirect band

gap materials, like Si, also get
absorption below EG
• Temperature of the material shifts the
band gap.
– As T increase EG decreases and vice
versa
– Since band gap is shifted so is the
absorption coefficient

ELEG620: Solar Electric Systems University of Delaware, ECE Spring 2009 S. Bremner
 Generation Rate
• Need to know how many photons have been absorbed by a material at a
particular depth x
• Given by the following:

• NS is number of photons at surface (x = 0), α is absorption coefficient

• Generation rate can then be found:

• Important to distinguish between two – remember which is a rate and

which is a total number

ELEG620: Solar Electric Systems University of Delaware, ECE Spring 2009 S. Bremner
 Generation Rate
• Generation rate depends on the
wavelength of light and the depth
in the material

• Larger absorption coefficient

means generation is predominantly
near the surface
• Small absorption coefficient means
generation is more uniform

• If x << 1/α then generation can be

assumed to be constant

Remember

ELEG620: Solar Electric Systems University of Delaware, ECE Spring 2009 S. Bremner
 Illuminated pn junction
• pn junction has optical generation of carriers that may be swept across the
junction by the drift field
• Optical generated carriers are swept from being minority carriers on one side to
being majority carriers on the other
• How is the IV equation affected by the optical generation?

minority
carriers majority
carriers

majority
carriers
minority
carriers

ELEG620: Solar Electric Systems University of Delaware, ECE Spring 2009 S. Bremner
 Illuminated IV equation
• We can solve for the IV equation in exactly the same manner as
previously but this time don’t assume G = 0
• This means the differential equation to be solved for the carrier
concentration increase is given by:

• We simplify by assuming that the generation is constant (solving it

otherwise is a nightmare)
• Means we get the following simple solution to the differential equation:

ELEG620: Solar Electric Systems University of Delaware, ECE Spring 2009 S. Bremner
 Illuminated IV equation
• We can proceed in an identical manner as for the un-illuminated case
i.e. differentiate the carrier concentration increase to find the current
and then equating the currents on the p and n sides of the junction, we
then end up with:

• This means the light generated current is simply a superposition on top

of what we get for the un-illumined case!
• We bundle this information up in the following expression:

ELEG620: Solar Electric Systems University of Delaware, ECE Spring 2009 S. Bremner
 Meaning of I0

• We want to extract the light generated current with a forward

bias meaning the diode current determined by I0 works
AGAINST the light generated current
• The first term is a recombination current found by
considering the diode without illumination – often referred to
as the dark current
• We therefore want to reduce I0 to as low a value as possible
in order to be able to extract as much light generated
current as possible

ELEG620: Solar Electric Systems University of Delaware, ECE Spring 2009 S. Bremner
 Short Circuit
• Means no load attached but current can flow
• Recombination is essentially what we expect for thermal
equilibrium and can be ignored
q .0
J SC = J 0 (e kT
− 1) − J L = J 0 (1 − 1) − J L = − J L
• Short circuit current is therefore the light generated current
• This makes the short circuit current VERY important
because it tells us how much light generated current there is
• Gives us good idea about absorption of the light but carriers
still have to get to contacts without recombining
• Can be measured as function of wavelength to give the
quantum efficiency

ELEG620: Solar Electric Systems University of Delaware, ECE Spring 2009 S. Bremner
 Open Circuit
• Infinite load attached – no current flow
qVOC
J = J 0 (e nkT
− 1) − J L = 0

nkT ⎛ J L ⎞ ⎛ JL ⎞
VOC = ln⎜⎜ − 1⎟⎟ ≈ ln⎜⎜ ⎟⎟
q ⎝ J0 ⎠ ⎝ J0 ⎠
• Tells us about the light generated current AND the “dark”
current
• Lower dark current means higher open circuit voltage but it
scales logarithmically not linearly
• Harder to “fix” than short circuit current

ELEG620: Solar Electric Systems University of Delaware, ECE Spring 2009 S. Bremner
 IV Curves
• When illuminated the diodes ‘dark’ I-V characteristic is
shifted
• Note short circuit current and open circuit voltages for the
illuminated case

ELEG620: Solar Electric Systems University of Delaware, ECE Spring 2009 S. Bremner
 Reverse bias
• Deliberately reverse bias the diode that is under illumination –
diffusion current is switched off
• Current seen is essentially equal to the light generated current –
slight increase seen but if I0 is low we can neglect
• Assuming that we get ~100%
extraction of photons absorbed
and absorption is good then the
current is proportional to the
number of photons with energy Reverse bias
above the band gap
• This is how a photodetector works
• Note it doesn’t tell us what the photon
energy is, just that it is above the band
gap

ELEG620: Solar Electric Systems University of Delaware, ECE Spring 2009 S. Bremner
 Reverse bias

• Recall from the dark diode case that when we apply a reverse or
negative bias the built-in field at the junction increases – this is an
increase in the barrier to diffusion
• Note that the drift current (light generated) is not increased but the
diffusion current is made negligible
• The slight increase in drift current is related to I0 and so we want this
to be low
• Obviously we will run at a voltage
that ensures negligible diffusion
current
• Requirements for a photodetector
- high absorption
- high collection probability
- low diffusion current
are the same as for a solar cell

ELEG620: Solar Electric Systems University of Delaware, ECE Spring 2009 S. Bremner
 Forward Bias
• More than meets the eye to case of diode in the dark
• If radiative recombination is efficient than we can get
significant light emission when bias is applied
• Direct band gap materials such as GaAs
work best
• Device designed to enhance
recombination
• This is the basis of light emitting
diodes (LEDs)
• Can even get a laser diode
– This requires a bit more work

ELEG620: Solar Electric Systems University of Delaware, ECE Spring 2009 S. Bremner
 Forward bias
• What if we deliberately make the recombination of carriers
very unlikely and shine light on it?
• According to the IV characteristic we need a forward bias to
raise the dark current to kill off the light generated current –
this is VOC
• This implies power is being
generated by the diode
- we have a current
- we have a bias
• We have a solar cell!

ELEG620: Solar Electric Systems University of Delaware, ECE Spring 2009 S. Bremner
 What is going on?

• Light generates excess minority carriers

• Carriers swept across junction by electric field –
electrons and holes are separated
• Do we get a voltage? Depends…..

ELEG620: Solar Electric Systems University of Delaware, ECE Spring 2009 S. Bremner
 What is going on?
….. on the load

• We are sending carriers to opposite sides of the junction

– if not extracted we have a build up of charge
– get an electric field and potential difference between p and n
regions
– this corresponds to a forward bias across the p-n junction
• So we can get both current and voltage extraction when
illuminating the pn junction – can get power out!
• We have a solar cell – i.e. it converts solar energy
directly to electrical energy

ELEG620: Solar Electric Systems University of Delaware, ECE Spring 2009 S. Bremner
 Conventions
• The light generated current being negative is simply a convention
based upon it being in the direction opposite to the flow for a biased
diode
• We are talking of power generation so we think of the light generated
current as being positive and the diffusion current as being negative
qV
J = J L − J 0 (e kT
− 1)
• Burn this into your brain
• Think of the IV curve as
what is shown here
• Power is simply I.V

ELEG620: Solar Electric Systems University of Delaware, ECE Spring 2009 S. Bremner
 Circuit model
• Simple circuit model can be used to understand the solar
cell and how it operates
• Need to add some more parts to make it ‘realistic’

ELEG620: Solar Electric Systems University of Delaware, ECE Spring 2009 S. Bremner
 Power Extracted
• To find power simply multiply I by V
• Get an increase as V is increased until a maximum and
then get drop off until VOC when power is zero

Pmax = Imp.Vmp

ELEG620: Solar Electric Systems University of Delaware, ECE Spring 2009 S. Bremner
 Efficiency
• We can easily find the power output and should be able to
find the input power
• Energy conversion efficiency is output divided by input
power
Pmax I mpVmp
η= =
Pin Pin

• For unconcentrated sunlight the typical input power will be

1kW/m2 (what does this mean for units of ISC and VOC?)
• How do the short circuit current and the open circuit voltage
relate to the efficiency?

ELEG620: Solar Electric Systems University of Delaware, ECE Spring 2009 S. Bremner
 Efficiency
• Can also write the efficiency in the following way:
I mpVmp I SCVOC I mpVmp
η= = FF FF = Fill Factor
Pin Pin I SCVOC

• Fill factor is a measure of how

‘ideal’ the IV curve is – it is a
measure of how much of area
described by ISC and VOC is
filled by the area described by
Imp and Vmp

ELEG620: Solar Electric Systems University of Delaware, ECE Spring 2009 S. Bremner
 Glossary
• ISC or JSC: Short circuit current – direct measure of light
absorption and collection probability
• VOC: Open circuit voltage – measure of ‘dark’ current as well
as light current, scales logarithmically
• FF: Fill factor – measure of how ‘ideal’ maximum power
point is in filling power area defined by ISC and VOC
• Dark current: diffusion current across pn junction due to bias
– carriers recombine and are lost
To make a good solar cell we must do the following:
- Maximize JSC
- Maximize VOC, this means minimize the dark current
- Maximize FF, bit trickier as it involves non-idealities
ELEG620: Solar Electric Systems University of Delaware, ECE Spring 2009 S. Bremner