TY - JOUR
T1 - Geometrical analysis of solar cells with partial rear contacts
AU - Cuevas, Andres
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - The analysis of solar cells where the posterior metal contact is formed only on part of the rear surface, which is mostly covered by a nonconductive, passivating layer, is both important and complex. A possible approach, based on a geometrical representation of the device structure, is examined here. As minority carriers flow toward the localized rear contact, they crowd inside a diminishing cross-sectional area, resulting in a high current density. The latter demands a strong gradient in their concentration, which leads to an increase of the open-circuit voltage V oc. Similarly, the crowding of majority carriers requires a strong gradient of the electrostatic potential, which leads to an increased series resistance R s. These effects of carrier crowding are described here with simple mathematical expressions that permit an approximate evaluation of V oc and R s for partial rear contact solar cells.
AB - The analysis of solar cells where the posterior metal contact is formed only on part of the rear surface, which is mostly covered by a nonconductive, passivating layer, is both important and complex. A possible approach, based on a geometrical representation of the device structure, is examined here. As minority carriers flow toward the localized rear contact, they crowd inside a diminishing cross-sectional area, resulting in a high current density. The latter demands a strong gradient in their concentration, which leads to an increase of the open-circuit voltage V oc. Similarly, the crowding of majority carriers requires a strong gradient of the electrostatic potential, which leads to an increased series resistance R s. These effects of carrier crowding are described here with simple mathematical expressions that permit an approximate evaluation of V oc and R s for partial rear contact solar cells.
KW - Modeling
KW - partial rear contact solar cells
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84866736405&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/JPHOTOV.2012.2204958
DO - 10.1109/JPHOTOV.2012.2204958
M3 - Article
SN - 2156-3381
VL - 2
SP - 485
EP - 493
JO - IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics
JF - IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics
IS - 4
M1 - 6246670
ER -