3D Analysis of the performances degradation caused by series resistance in concentrator solar cells

This paper deals with the modeling of series resistance components in silicon concentrator solar cells. The main components of the macroscopic series resistance are analyzed by means of one-dimensional (1D), two-dimensional (2D), and three-dimensional (3D) numerical simulations. It is shown that the contribution of the lateral current flux, flowing along the emitter region, and of the transverse current flux, flowing along the metal grid, cannot be neglected and, hence, the operation of solar cells subjected to high current densities cannot be described by simple one-dimensional models. The percentage weight of 2D and 3D components on the total value of the series resistance is evaluated and rules for the proper design of the cell geometries are given. An analysis of the effectiveness of the most popular methods for the extraction of the series resistance from the I-V curves of solar cells is also proposed. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.