Didactic software for solar cells and materials parameters analysis

The authors present a package of computer applications gathered in a form of virtual laboratory as a package of the virtual exercises to solar cells parameters analysis at a student university laboratory. The applications may also be used to analyze some aspects of silicon materials or solar cell structures as a research tool. The package consists of three blocks of exercises. Each of the blocks solves different tasks and is based on different software platforms (LabWindows, Visual Basic, Java and Flash). The range of the tasks is relatively wide: from analysis of the role of parameters of the material (silicon) on the I – V and spectral curves of a solar cell up to simulation of the method of solar quality silicon parameter testing—evaluation of a value of the minority carriers diffusion length from surface photovoltage spectra.