Limiting efficiency of bulk and thin-film silicon solar cells in the presence of surface recombination

✍ Scribed by Martin A. Green

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 91 KB
• Volume: 7
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1062-7995
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-159x(199907/08)7:4<327::aid-pip250>3.0.co;2-b

✦ Synopsis

Calculations of the limiting eciency of silicon solar cells generally treat surface recombination as an extrinsic parameter which can be made arbitrarily small. In the present paper, modi®cations to these limits for both bulk and thin ®lm silicon solar cells are calculated for the case of ®nite surface recombination velocity characterized in terms of the voltage limit imposed by these recombination processes. Based on the best experimental levels of surface passivation yet demonstrated, the limiting eciency for a 1 m m m m mm thick silicon cell is shown to be 19 . 8%, while that for a 400 m m m m mm thick cell is 26 . 2%, both under standard test conditions.