Trustworthy Systems

Numerical modelling of non-ideal current-voltage characteristics of high-efficiency silicon solar cells

Authors

Gernot Heiser and Armin G. Aberle

    School of Computer Science and Engineering
    UNSW,
    Sydney 2052, Australia

Abstract

Under one-sun illumination, the highest energy conversion efficiencies of silicon solar cells are presently obtained with bifacially contacted n+p cells, where contact to the p-type substrate is made via small openings in the rear passivating oxide. Experimentally, it has been found that the dark and illuminated current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of these devices deviate strongly from ideal diode theory. In this work, the experimental I-V curves are compared with results obtained from 2-dimensional (2D) device simulation based on experimental cell parameters. Excellent agreement between theory and experiment is obtained. The paper shows why these solar cells cannot accurately be modelled by 1D simulators and reveals the physical reasons underlying the observed non-idealities.

BibTeX Entry

  @inproceedings{Heiser_Aberle_94,
    address          = {Honolulu, HI, USA},
    author           = {Gernot Heiser and Armin G. Aberle},
    booktitle        = {International Workshop on Numerical Modeling of Processes and Devices for Integrated Circuits},
    month            = jun,
    organization     = {IEEE},
    pages            = {177-80},
    paperUrl         = {https://trustworthy.systems/publications/papers/Heiser_Aberle_94.pdf},
    title            = {Numerical Modelling of Non-ideal Current-Voltage Characteristics of High-Efficiency Silicon Solar
                        Cells},
    year             = {1994}
  }

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