After successful completion of the course, students are able to:

* characterize silicon wafers for qualification for solar cells,

* measure alle relevant characteristics of silicon solar cells

* measure the relevant parameters of photovoltaic modules

* set up and test a grid-connected PV-power plant of typical roof top size

* understand the physical background from raw silicon wafer to complete power plant, and the required specific properties for optimal conversion of sun light to electricity

This laboratory course consists of 8 experimental exercises which build on each other.

1) Determination of p-doping concentration and Fermi-level of silicon wafers. 2) Determination of lifetime of minority carriers excited from valence band to conduction band by incident light. 3) Determination of the n-doping concentration of the pn-junction of a half-finished solar cell and determination of the contact potential. 4) Characterization of a silicon solar cell under illumination and in the dark at different temperatures and determination of the parameters of the 2-diode model. 5) Light-beam-induced-current scan of a solar cell to map the local short circuit current density. 6) Determination of the current-voltage curve of a commercial photovoltaic module under various real sun conditions. 7) Investigation of problems in a PV-module by means of electroluminescence. 8) Set-up of an array of 8 PV-modules and an inverter for AC-feed-in to the electrical grid.

This course consists of various experiments with silicon wafers, solar cells and photovoltaic modules, which will be done in the laboratory and also outdoors. Each experiment is preceeded by a theoretical introduction and an explanation of the experimental procedure described in the hand-outs available for each experiment. The measurement data will be analyzed at home and consolidated into a written summary of the experiment. The participating student will work in groups of four. Each group will produce only one common summary per experiment. Each group has to come to the laboratory once a week for about 3 hours. The exact times of these weekly appointments are somewhat flexible. There will be 8 such appointments per group, and therefore the course will be blocked into 8 weeks in the months May and June.

In order to get a grade, the student must have participated in all laboratory experiments. The actual grade is determined from the written summaries of the experiments and, if necessary, from interviews about the experiments with the individual members of a group.

To get registered, please send an email to johann.summhammer@tuwien.ac.at staing your full name and the "Matrikelnummer".  Please also state, whether you have done the exam on the course "Nachhaltige Energieträger". This exam is not a requirement, but students who have passed this exam will be ranked first, in case there are more applications than the available 32 participants.