SOL 102 — Materials Science & Chemistry for Solar Technology

What this course is. A compact materials and process-chemistry foundation for someone starting from zero: atoms and bonding, crystal structure, defects and impurities, thermodynamics and phase diagrams, diffusion, the chemistry that turns sand into silicon, thin-film growth, and the glass, polymers and metals in a module — plus an introduction to the hazardous chemicals and gases used in factories. It builds the vocabulary and intuition for crystal growth (SOL 301), cell fabrication (SOL 302/303) and modules (SOL 304).

Prerequisites. None (SOL 101 recommended; it can run in parallel).

Learning outcomes

  1. Describe bonding and crystal structure of Si, GaAs, CdTe, CIGS and halide perovskites.
  2. Explain what point defects, dislocations, grain boundaries and impurities do to electronic properties.
  3. Apply segregation and diffusion concepts to purification and doping.
  4. Explain thin-film nucleation and the main deposition methods.
  5. Classify the roles of glass, polymers and metals in a module.
  6. Read a simple phase diagram and a reaction scheme for silicon refining.
  7. Explain the hazard classes and control hierarchy for process chemicals and gases.

Units

# Unit Lab
1 Atoms, electrons and the periodic table —
2 Chemical bonding and how it controls properties —
3 Crystal structures and Miller indices 102-B
4 Real materials: single crystal, polycrystal, amorphous 102-A
5 Defects and impurities in silicon —
6 Thermodynamics, phase diagrams and segregation 102-D
7 Diffusion and kinetics 102-C
8 The chemistry of silicon: refining, etching, oxidation —
9 Thin-film growth and deposition methods —
10 Glass, polymers and metals in modules —
11 Safety and handling of process chemicals and gases —
12 Computational lab: crystals, phase diagrams, defect numbers in-unit

Hands-on labs

Course lab budget: roughly \(80–\)250 (estimate).

Core references

Callister & Rethwisch, Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction; Kittel, Introduction to Solid State Physics; Sze & Ng, Physics of Semiconductor Devices; Plummer, Deal & Griffin, Silicon VLSI Technology; PVEducation; Green, Silicon Solar Cells. Full list on the Sources page.