Prof. Anil Kottantharayil, at NCPRE and PoTIC, organized a four-day short-term course titled "Theory, Technology and Manufacturing of Silicon Solar Cells" from July 1 to 4, 2026. The course provided an intensive overview of both fundamental and advanced concepts related to silicon solar cell technology. Key topics included the physics of solar cells and their implementation in silicon, solar cell design, production of silicon wafers from quartzite, unit processes for solar cell fabrication, TOPCon and Heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer (HIT), tandem solar cells, and characterization of solar cells and wafers (carrier lifetime, photo-luminescence, dark IV, lighted IV and quantum efficiency).

The lectures on TOPCon solar cell manufacturing were taken by Dr. Mehul Raval, Deputy CTO, RCT Solutions, GmbH. A total of 28 participants from academia, industry, and research institutions benefited from this course.