Study of Solar Cells Based on Upgraded Metallurgical Grade Silicon

V. Schlosser, F. Kuchar, K. Seeger

• Ludwig Boltzmann Institut für Festkörperphysik, Wien, Austria^*

Summary
In this work we present a study on the applicability of diffused solar cells when cast upgraded metallurgical grade silicon (UMG-Si) is used. Cells have been prepared from differently processed UMG-Si and for comparison from high purity FZ-Si. The material was characterized by the minority carrier diffusion length, which was obtained from spectral response measurements. A two-diode equivalent circuit model was used in order to evaluate pn-junction characteristics under illumination and in the dark.

^*Work supported by Shell-Austria and the Forschungsforderungsfonds der Gewerblichen Wirtschaft, Austria.