Thin Film Solar Cells

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvi

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2. Why Thin Film Solar Cells?

   • Kasturi Lal Chopra, Suhit Ranjan Das

   Pages 1-18

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3. Basic Physical Processes in Solar Cell Materials

   • Kasturi Lal Chopra, Suhit Ranjan Das

   Pages 19-70

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4. Photovoltaic Behavior of Junctions

   • Kasturi Lal Chopra, Suhit Ranjan Das

   Pages 71-152

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5. Photovoltaic Measurements, Junction Analysis, and Material Characterization

   • Kasturi Lal Chopra, Suhit Ranjan Das

   Pages 153-194

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6. Thin Film Deposition Techniques

   • Kasturi Lal Chopra, Suhit Ranjan Das

   Pages 195-273

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7. Properties of Thin Films for Solar Cells

   • Kasturi Lal Chopra, Suhit Ranjan Das

   Pages 275-347

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8. Cu2S Based Solar Cells

   • Kasturi Lal Chopra, Suhit Ranjan Das

   Pages 349-390

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9. Polycrystalline Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells

   • Kasturi Lal Chopra, Suhit Ranjan Das

   Pages 391-402

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10. Emerging Solar Cells

    • Kasturi Lal Chopra, Suhit Ranjan Das

    Pages 403-426

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11. Amorphous Silicon Solar Cells

    • Kasturi Lal Chopra, Suhit Ranjan Das

    Pages 427-456

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12. Photoelectrochemical Cells

    • Kasturi Lal Chopra, Suhit Ranjan Das

    Pages 457-481

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13. Novel Concepts in Design of High-Efficiency Solar Cells

    • Kasturi Lal Chopra, Suhit Ranjan Das

    Pages 483-505

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14. Back Matter

    Pages 507-607

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"You, 0 Sun, are the eye of the world You are the soul of all embodied beings You are the source of all creatures You are the discipline of all engaged in work" - Translated from Mahabharata 3rd Century BC Today, energy is the lifeline and status symbol of "civilized" societies. All nations have therefore embarked upon Research and Development pro­ grams of varying magnitudes to explore and effectively utilize renewable sources of energy. Albeit a low-grade energy with large temporal and spatial variations, solar energy is abundant, cheap, clean, and renewable, and thus presents a very attractive alternative source. The direct conver­ sion of solar energy to electricity (photovoltaic effect) via devices called solar cells has already become an established frontier area of science and technology. Born out of necessity for remote area applications, the first commercially manufactured solar cells - single-crystal silicon and thin film CdS/Cu2S - were available well over 20 years ago. Indeed, all space vehicles today are powered by silicon solar cells. But large-scale terrestrial applications of solar cells still await major breakthroughs in terms of discovering new and radical concepts in solar cell device structures, utilizing relatively more abundant, cheap, and even exotic materials, and inventing simpler and less energy intensive fabrication processes. No doubt, this extraordinary challenge in R/D has led to a virtual explosion of activities in the field of photovoltaics in the last several years.

• development
• electricity
• photovoltaics
• solar energy
• thin film
• thin films

• Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India

  Kasturi Lal Chopra

• National Research Council, Ottawa, Canada

  Suhit Ranjan Das

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