The course will focus on the two main families of materials at the basis of the second generation of solar cells, namely silicon thin films (amorphous, microcrystalline, thin film crystalline, and alloys with O, C and Ge) and chalcogenides (CdTe and CIGS). It will provide the basis for a deeper understanding of the materials used to build up the solar cells, their structural and electrical characterization, as well as provide the basis to foresee the future of thin film PV in a very competitive arena. Professors will present the solar cell technologies and give the elements of material science to understand both fundamental and technological aspects of Thin-Film Photovoltaics.

The course consists of 9 units of four hours divided as follows:

• Lecture 1: Introduction to the physics of solar cells: basics of photovoltaic conversion, thermodynamics of light to electricity conversion, fundamental key properties of photovoltaic materials and basic device structures, limits of photovoltaic conversion

• Lectures 2-3: Solar cells based on II-VI compounds and chalcogenides (CdTe and Copper indium gallium diselenide) : basics of polycrystalline compound semiconductors, devices, fabrication processes and manufacturing

• Lectures 4-5: Silicon thin film technology: plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition as a versatile tool to deposit silicon thin films and synthesize nanomaterials which are combined in various kinds of solar cell structures (homojunctions, heterojunctions, radial junction solar cells,...) in order to achieve high efficiency at low cost

• Lecture 6: High efficiency concepts for solar cells: III-V and multijunctions materials and devices, up and down conversion, nanophotonics. The lecture will also include an introduction to modeling of solar cells

• Lecture 7: Optical properties of solar cells: Students will learn from the basic concepts for the reduction of the spectral reflectance to more advanced nanostructures. In particular, the focus will be on periodic structures such as diffraction gratings or photonic crystals, the exploitation of one dimensional nanowires or metallic nanoantennas, progressive techniques based on plasmonic or photonic effects ...