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IXYS KOREA LTD.

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IXYS Corporation

A-dong #1106, Uspace 1, 660 Daewangpangyo-ro,

1590 Buckeye Drive, Milpitas,

Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-Do (Korea)

CA 95035-7418, United States

Phone +82-70-7113-0300, Fax +82-70-7113-0301

Rev. Aug. 2017

Phone (408) 457-9000, Fax 408-496-0670

Background

Some basic information needs to be covered to better understand what to expect in terms of

power density, and general industry standards as they relate to battery charging.

Solar Cell Types

Keep in mind these cost and performance tradeoffs when comparing various solar cell

materials:

Polycrystalline cells are commonly found in outdoor applications and have a spectral

sensitivity range of 500nm to 1100nm. They’re in the medium price range and typically offer

a 13% power conversion efficiency.

nm (near-ultraviolet) to 1100 nm (near-infrared), which includes visible light (400 to 700 nm).

Due to this wide spectral range, they can be used in both indoor and outdoor applications.

Monocrystalline or single-crystalline material is the most expensive but it does not contain

impurities, and as such the power conversion efficiency does not degrade over operating time.

The power conversion efficiency of commercially available monocrystalline cells ranges from

15 to 22%. The surface of these cells is a homogenous dark blue or dark grey.

Finally, amorphous cells, which work in the spectral range of 300nm to 600nm, are used

predominantly indoors in products such as solar powered calculators since they are not

sensitive to the upper light spectrum and cannot take advantage of natural sunlight. They

offer about 5% power conversion efficiency and are mostly used with ultra low power devices

like clocks and electronic calculators. Amorphous cells, like polycrystalline cells, suffer from

efficiency degradation.