ME 5390/MTE 5390: Solar Cells

The objective of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the working principles, design, fabrication and characterization of established and emerging solar cell technologies. Students will be exposed to the electronic properties of semiconductor materials, which are the building blocks of solar cells, and the analysis of photo-generation and extraction of charges in these materials. The course will emphasize the influence of the atomic-, nano- and micro-scale structure of the materials on the solar cell performance. In addition, the challenges of economics and scalability that must be addressed to increase the deployment of solar cells will be discussed. Students cannot receive credit for this course if they have received credit for the Special Topics (ME 593/MTE 594) version of the same course.