Why is Silicon used for making solar cells?

The name of the pictureThe name of the pictureThe name of the pictureClash Royale CLAN TAG#URR8PPP











up vote
1
down vote

favorite












Silicon has a bandgap of 1.1 eV, whereas Germanium has 0.65 eV. Silicon has an indirect bandgap, whereas Gallium Arsenide has direct bandgap. Still Silicon is mainly used for making solar cells. Why?






semiconductor-physics solar-cells







share|cite|improve this question





















  • My thesis advisor, who was a professor of materials science & engineering, once told me that silicon is actually not a very good semiconductor compared to germanium and some other semiconductors. For example, silicon doesn't have a particularly high carrier mobility. Like the answers below state, the reason silicon has remained popular in the semiconductor industry for so long is due to other factors than its electronic properties.
    – Samuel Weir
    1 hour ago










  • What are those other factors?
    – Shaona Bose
    28 mins ago










  • Gallium arsenide is surely something everyone wants on their roofs
    – PlasmaHH
    36 secs ago














up vote
1
down vote

favorite












Silicon has a bandgap of 1.1 eV, whereas Germanium has 0.65 eV. Silicon has an indirect bandgap, whereas Gallium Arsenide has direct bandgap. Still Silicon is mainly used for making solar cells. Why?






semiconductor-physics solar-cells







share|cite|improve this question





















  • My thesis advisor, who was a professor of materials science & engineering, once told me that silicon is actually not a very good semiconductor compared to germanium and some other semiconductors. For example, silicon doesn't have a particularly high carrier mobility. Like the answers below state, the reason silicon has remained popular in the semiconductor industry for so long is due to other factors than its electronic properties.
    – Samuel Weir
    1 hour ago










  • What are those other factors?
    – Shaona Bose
    28 mins ago










  • Gallium arsenide is surely something everyone wants on their roofs
    – PlasmaHH
    36 secs ago












up vote
1
down vote

favorite









up vote
1
down vote

favorite











Silicon has a bandgap of 1.1 eV, whereas Germanium has 0.65 eV. Silicon has an indirect bandgap, whereas Gallium Arsenide has direct bandgap. Still Silicon is mainly used for making solar cells. Why?






semiconductor-physics solar-cells







share|cite|improve this question













Silicon has a bandgap of 1.1 eV, whereas Germanium has 0.65 eV. Silicon has an indirect bandgap, whereas Gallium Arsenide has direct bandgap. Still Silicon is mainly used for making solar cells. Why?






semiconductor-physics solar-cells




semiconductor-physics solar-cells






share|cite|improve this question













share|cite|improve this question











share|cite|improve this question




share|cite|improve this question










asked 3 hours ago









Shaona Bose

2391413




2391413











  • My thesis advisor, who was a professor of materials science & engineering, once told me that silicon is actually not a very good semiconductor compared to germanium and some other semiconductors. For example, silicon doesn't have a particularly high carrier mobility. Like the answers below state, the reason silicon has remained popular in the semiconductor industry for so long is due to other factors than its electronic properties.
    – Samuel Weir
    1 hour ago










  • What are those other factors?
    – Shaona Bose
    28 mins ago










  • Gallium arsenide is surely something everyone wants on their roofs
    – PlasmaHH
    36 secs ago
















  • My thesis advisor, who was a professor of materials science & engineering, once told me that silicon is actually not a very good semiconductor compared to germanium and some other semiconductors. For example, silicon doesn't have a particularly high carrier mobility. Like the answers below state, the reason silicon has remained popular in the semiconductor industry for so long is due to other factors than its electronic properties.
    – Samuel Weir
    1 hour ago










  • What are those other factors?
    – Shaona Bose
    28 mins ago










  • Gallium arsenide is surely something everyone wants on their roofs
    – PlasmaHH
    36 secs ago















My thesis advisor, who was a professor of materials science & engineering, once told me that silicon is actually not a very good semiconductor compared to germanium and some other semiconductors. For example, silicon doesn't have a particularly high carrier mobility. Like the answers below state, the reason silicon has remained popular in the semiconductor industry for so long is due to other factors than its electronic properties.
– Samuel Weir
1 hour ago




My thesis advisor, who was a professor of materials science & engineering, once told me that silicon is actually not a very good semiconductor compared to germanium and some other semiconductors. For example, silicon doesn't have a particularly high carrier mobility. Like the answers below state, the reason silicon has remained popular in the semiconductor industry for so long is due to other factors than its electronic properties.
– Samuel Weir
1 hour ago












What are those other factors?
– Shaona Bose
28 mins ago




What are those other factors?
– Shaona Bose
28 mins ago












Gallium arsenide is surely something everyone wants on their roofs
– PlasmaHH
36 secs ago




Gallium arsenide is surely something everyone wants on their roofs
– PlasmaHH
36 secs ago










2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes

















up vote
3
down vote













Row material of germanium is about 100 to 1000 times more expansive than silicon.



Furthermore, the science and engineering of silicon is well established.



Also, you don't actually use silicon to make the solar cells, one uses doped silicon N-P junctions to make the cell, and if you want to use solar panel for powering things up, you need some voltage difference.






share|cite|improve this answer





























    up vote
    2
    down vote













    I am not an expert on semiconductor physics but from some internet research I have found out that money is not always the deciding factor. Germanium is also sometimes used in semiconductors and has been used as such even before silicon. Germanium is apparently less stable at high temperatures and doesn't handle high power levels as well as silicon does. Also, germanium is less abundant in Earth's crust than silicon.






    share|cite|improve this answer




















      Your Answer





      StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function ()
      return StackExchange.using("mathjaxEditing", function ()
      StackExchange.MarkdownEditor.creationCallbacks.add(function (editor, postfix)
      StackExchange.mathjaxEditing.prepareWmdForMathJax(editor, postfix, [["$", "$"], ["\\(","\\)"]]);
      );
      );
      , "mathjax-editing");

      StackExchange.ready(function()
      var channelOptions =
      tags: "".split(" "),
      id: "151"
      ;
      initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

      StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function()
      // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
      if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled)
      StackExchange.using("snippets", function()
      createEditor();
      );

      else
      createEditor();

      );

      function createEditor()
      StackExchange.prepareEditor(
      heartbeatType: 'answer',
      convertImagesToLinks: false,
      noModals: true,
      showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
      reputationToPostImages: null,
      bindNavPrevention: true,
      postfix: "",
      imageUploader:
      brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
      contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
      allowUrls: true
      ,
      noCode: true, onDemand: true,
      discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
      ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
      );



      );













       

      draft saved


      draft discarded


















      StackExchange.ready(
      function ()
      StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fphysics.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f438700%2fwhy-is-silicon-used-for-making-solar-cells%23new-answer', 'question_page');

      );

      Post as a guest

















      2 Answers
      2






      active

      oldest

      votes








      2 Answers
      2






      active

      oldest

      votes









      active

      oldest

      votes






      active

      oldest

      votes








      up vote
      3
      down vote













      Row material of germanium is about 100 to 1000 times more expansive than silicon.



      Furthermore, the science and engineering of silicon is well established.



      Also, you don't actually use silicon to make the solar cells, one uses doped silicon N-P junctions to make the cell, and if you want to use solar panel for powering things up, you need some voltage difference.






      share|cite|improve this answer


























        up vote
        3
        down vote













        Row material of germanium is about 100 to 1000 times more expansive than silicon.



        Furthermore, the science and engineering of silicon is well established.



        Also, you don't actually use silicon to make the solar cells, one uses doped silicon N-P junctions to make the cell, and if you want to use solar panel for powering things up, you need some voltage difference.






        share|cite|improve this answer
























          up vote
          3
          down vote










          up vote
          3
          down vote









          Row material of germanium is about 100 to 1000 times more expansive than silicon.



          Furthermore, the science and engineering of silicon is well established.



          Also, you don't actually use silicon to make the solar cells, one uses doped silicon N-P junctions to make the cell, and if you want to use solar panel for powering things up, you need some voltage difference.






          share|cite|improve this answer














          Row material of germanium is about 100 to 1000 times more expansive than silicon.



          Furthermore, the science and engineering of silicon is well established.



          Also, you don't actually use silicon to make the solar cells, one uses doped silicon N-P junctions to make the cell, and if you want to use solar panel for powering things up, you need some voltage difference.







          share|cite|improve this answer














          share|cite|improve this answer



          share|cite|improve this answer








          edited 2 hours ago









          Bruce Becker

          1486




          1486










          answered 2 hours ago









          user9976437

          817




          817




















              up vote
              2
              down vote













              I am not an expert on semiconductor physics but from some internet research I have found out that money is not always the deciding factor. Germanium is also sometimes used in semiconductors and has been used as such even before silicon. Germanium is apparently less stable at high temperatures and doesn't handle high power levels as well as silicon does. Also, germanium is less abundant in Earth's crust than silicon.






              share|cite|improve this answer
























                up vote
                2
                down vote













                I am not an expert on semiconductor physics but from some internet research I have found out that money is not always the deciding factor. Germanium is also sometimes used in semiconductors and has been used as such even before silicon. Germanium is apparently less stable at high temperatures and doesn't handle high power levels as well as silicon does. Also, germanium is less abundant in Earth's crust than silicon.






                share|cite|improve this answer






















                  up vote
                  2
                  down vote










                  up vote
                  2
                  down vote









                  I am not an expert on semiconductor physics but from some internet research I have found out that money is not always the deciding factor. Germanium is also sometimes used in semiconductors and has been used as such even before silicon. Germanium is apparently less stable at high temperatures and doesn't handle high power levels as well as silicon does. Also, germanium is less abundant in Earth's crust than silicon.






                  share|cite|improve this answer












                  I am not an expert on semiconductor physics but from some internet research I have found out that money is not always the deciding factor. Germanium is also sometimes used in semiconductors and has been used as such even before silicon. Germanium is apparently less stable at high temperatures and doesn't handle high power levels as well as silicon does. Also, germanium is less abundant in Earth's crust than silicon.







                  share|cite|improve this answer












                  share|cite|improve this answer



                  share|cite|improve this answer










                  answered 2 hours ago









                  Tatjana Gobold

                  486




                  486



























                       

                      draft saved


                      draft discarded















































                       


                      draft saved


                      draft discarded














                      StackExchange.ready(
                      function ()
                      StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fphysics.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f438700%2fwhy-is-silicon-used-for-making-solar-cells%23new-answer', 'question_page');

                      );

                      Post as a guest
































































                      Comments

                      Post a Comment

                      Popular posts from this blog

                      Long meetings (6-7 hours a day): Being “babysat” by supervisor

                      Image
                      Clash Royale CLAN TAG #URR8PPP .everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty margin-bottom:0; up vote 31 down vote favorite 4 I hold a PhD in mechanical engineering with a 7 year background in self-guided, self-paced research including 2 years as a graduate level course instructor and a subject matter expert for various engineering projects in a university setting in the United States. For the last 10-11 months, I am working in a research industry in France where my task is to debug C++ spaghetti code written over a period of several years by my current supervisor. It is a team of 2: just I and my supervisor. Diurnally, I am posed with a "bug of the day" to get out of this C++ code. My supervisor generally gives me about 15-30 minutes to solve it and then accosts me about whether or not the task is completed and then rinses and repeats this until the end of the day. Off-late, my supervisor has been holding 6-7 hour long "meetin
                      Read more

                      Is the Concept of Multiple Fantasy Races Scientifically Flawed? [closed]

                      Image
                      Clash Royale CLAN TAG #URR8PPP up vote 2 down vote favorite Many fantasy worlds have multiple humanoid species (elves, orcs, humans, etc) living in the same world, in addition to that, they often have the ability to interbreed. And I can't help but question their believability... fantasy-races reproduction interspecies-relations share | improve this question edited Aug 9 at 14:46 Michael Kjörling ♦ 21.1k 10 85 161 asked Aug 9 at 13:13 Chlodio 118 6 closed as unclear what you're asking by MichaelK, Gryphon, John, Vincent, Frostfyre Aug 9 at 15:25 Please clarify your specific problem or add additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it’s hard to tell exactly what you're asking. See the How to Ask page for help clarifying this question. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question. 3 Stack Exchange exist to
                      Read more

                      Confectionery

                      Image
                      Prepared foods made with a lot of sugar or other cabohydrates "Sweetmeat" redirects here. For the racehorse, see Sweetmeat (horse). Not to be confused with Sweetbread. This Kransekake is a traditional Scandinavian baker's confection. Confectionery is the art of making confections , which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. [1] In general, though, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categories, bakers' confections and sugar confections. [2] Bakers' confectionery, also called flour confections , includes principally sweet pastries, cakes, and similar baked goods. Sugar confectionery includes candies ( sweets in British English), candied nuts, chocolates, chewing gum, bubble gum, pastillage, and other confections that are made primarily of sugar. In some cases, chocolate confections (confections made of chocolate) are treated as a separate category, as are sugar-free versions of
                      Read more