The Birnie Group solar class

and website were created with

 
much-appreciated support
from the NSF CRCD Program
under grants 0203504 and
0509886. Continuing Support
 
from the McLaren Endowment
is also greatly appreciated!
Band Gap Engineering  
Reading the Periodic Table and 
Understanding Optical and Electrical 
Properties in Semiconductors
Slides on these other topics might also be of interest (most collected during teaching years 2004 and 2005):
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~dbirnie/solarclass/MultijunctionLecture.pdf Multi‐Junction Solar Device Design
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~dbirnie/solarclass/MBEgrowth.pdf Molecular Beam Epitaxy
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~dbirnie/solarclass/amorphousSi.pdf Amorphous Silicon Solar Cells
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~dbirnie/solarclass/TransparentConductors.pdf Transparent Conductors for Solar
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~dbirnie/solarclass/ARCoatings.pdf Anti‐Reflection Coatings for Solar
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~dbirnie/solarclass/OrganicPV.pdf Organic PV
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~dbirnie/solarclass/DSSC.pdf Dye Sensitized Solar Cells
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~dbirnie/solarclass/MotorPrimerGaTech.pdf Working with Simple DC Motors for Student Solar Projects
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~dbirnie/solarclass/2005ProjectResultsindex.htm Examples of Previous Years’ Student Solar Projects
Note: in some cases it may be possible to design custom courses that expand on the above materials (send me email!)

Journal Publications of Some Recent Research: (best viewed through department home index: http://mse.rutgers.edu/dunbar_p_birnie_iii)

Other Birnie Group Research:

Sol-Gel Coating Quality and Defects Analysis (mostly Spin Coating): http://www.coatings.rutgers.edu
Solar Research at Rutgers: Broader Overview http://www.solar.rutgers.edu
Solar and Electric Vehicles System Projects (early stage emphasis) http://www.rave.rutgers.edu

Professor Dunbar P. Birnie, III (dunbar.birnie@rutgers.edu)

Department of Materials Science and Engineering
http://mse.rutgers.edu/faculty/dunbar_p_birnie
Solar Cell Design and Processing
Band Gap and Association to Trends in
the Periodic Table  through doping and
optical constant changes
Dunbar P. Birnie, III
dunbar.birnie@rutgers.edu

Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Rutgers University
Piscataway, NJ 08854-8065

Department of Materials
Science and Engineering
www.MSE.Rutgers.edu
 Semiconductors
• Basically not insulating and also not
metallic  somewhere in between
• For many examples this comes from sp3
hybridized covalent bonding that builds
tetrahedral arrangements and very stiff
and open structures
• Silicon and germanium are simple
elemental semiconductors  silicon
dominates the solar market for now.
Department of Materials
Science and Engineering
www.MSE.Rutgers.edu
 Silicon is “Diamond Cubic”
• Unit cell emphasizes the tetrahedral
bonding arrangement of every Si atom:

Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: Department of Materials

Science and Engineering
Diamond_Cubic-F_lattice_animation.gif www.MSE.Rutgers.edu
Silicon’s Location in the
Periodic Table

Department of Materials
Source: commons.wikimedia.org/periodic table Science and Engineering
www.MSE.Rutgers.edu
 Doping of Silicon
P-type dopants
come from group N-type dopants
III and have one come from group
fewer electron V and have one
than Silicon. This excess electron
is then provides to bring to the
an empty bonding. This
bonding orbital electron can be
and energy level “donated” to the
that can “accept” electronic
an electron from structure. These
elsewhere in the elements are,
structure. These therefore
elements are, “donors”.
therefore
“acceptors”.

Department of Materials
Source: adapted from Science and Engineering
commons.wikimedia.org/periodic table www.MSE.Rutgers.edu
 III-V Compound Semiconductors
Bonding gets
weaker as we
Requires a 1:1 move DOWN on
Ratio of Group- the periodic
III and Group V table. Melting
elements, points and band-
bonding gaps are smaller
alternates so as we move
every III atom is down.
surrounded by
four V atoms and Example phases:
similarly four GaAs, GaN,
III’s around AlSb, InP, etc,
every V. etc. etc.

Department of Materials
Source: adapted from Science and Engineering
commons.wikimedia.org/periodic table www.MSE.Rutgers.edu
GaAs in “Zinc Blende” Structure

Department of Materials
Source: OCW.mit.edu Science and Engineering
www.MSE.Rutgers.edu
 Band Gaps and Lattice Size
• Important for many semiconductor growth
methods such as MBE and CVD, when high
crystal quality is required.

Department of Materials
Source: http://web.tiscali.it/decartes/phd_html/
Science and Engineering
III-Vms-latgap.png www.MSE.Rutgers.edu