Solutions to Chapter 4:

Exercise 4.1: Recombination in the c-Si Solar Cell

a) The most important ones are imperfection recombinations (foreign atoms, crystal structure errors) and
surface recombinations.
b) This ist he upper part oft he n+-emitter layer. Because of the high doping concentration the produced
holes recombine very quickly. Therefore this region contributes hardly to the photo current.
c) xAbs = 140 µm, N = 7 µs,

cm2
LN  DN  N  35  7 10 6 s  156 .5 µm  xAbs
s

Yes, the generated electron is likely to contribute to the photo current.

Exercise 4.2: Absorption Efficiency of a c-S Cell

a) xP = 1/ = 1 cm / 100 = 100 µm
2
 n  n   1  3.3 
2
b) R   1 2      28.61 %
 n1  n2   1  3.3 
ER  R  E0  286.1 W/m2

c) E1  E ( x  0)  (1  R)  E0  713.9 W/m2
E2  E ( x  d )  E1  e   d  176.0 W/m2
EAbs  E1  E2  537.9 W/m2

d) With the mirrored rear side the optical cell thickness is practically doubled:
E1  E ( x  0)  E0
E2  E ( x  2  d )  E1  e   2 d  60.8 W/m2
EAbs  E1  E2  939.2 W/m2
EAbs
e)  Abs   93.22 %
E0
q
S ( )     Ext
hc
1
Here :  Ext   Abs  S ( )   1 μm  93.22 %  75.18 %
1,24 μm

K. Mertens Textbook PV Solutions to Exercises

Exercise 4.3: Single Diode Equicalent Circuit Diagram
a) See Section 4.5.2
b) Series Resistance:
Resistance of the contact fingers on the top side of the cell, metal-semiconductor junction resistance,
ohmic resistance in the semiconductor volume.

Shunt Resistance:
Local short circuits of the p-n junction, insufficient insulation at the edges of the solar cell.

c) See Figure 4.15 a)

In the short circuit point the current sinks with rising RS. The reason is that there is a rising voltage drop
at RS which leads to a Rising VD and thus a rising diode current.
The open circuit point will not change as here no current flows through RS and therefore no voltage
drops at it.
d) See Figure 4.15 b)
With falling RP in the open circuit point the portion of photo current flowing trough RP will rise. For the
diode there will be less current available thus VD becomes smaller. As in the open circuit point the
condition VD = VOC holds, VOC will decrease with falling RP.
The short circuit point is almost independent of RP as in this case RP and RS are connected in parallel and
typically RS is one order of magnitude smaller than RP.

Exercise 4.4: Spectral and Theoretical Efficiency

a) The spectral efficiency denotes which part of the incident radiation power can be used theoretically with
a semiconductor of bandgap WG. The transmission losses describe the part of the spectrum where the
photons have not enough energy to overcome the bandgap. Thermalization on the other hand arises with
photons that have more energy than the bandgap. In this case only a part of the energy can be used for
the cell, the rest is converted into heat.
b) The theoretical efficiency accounts additionally two loss sources: On the one hand in a solar cell not the
whole voltage can be used WG/q. On the other hand the use of a p-n junction causes that the fill factor is
always smaller of 100 %.
c) The theoretical efficiency of c-Si cells is about 28.6 %. The world record cell from Australia lies very
close to this optimum with its measured efficiency of 25 %.

K. Mertens Textbook PV Solutions to Exercises

Exercise 4.5: Spectral Efficiency for Monochromatic Light

WOpt POpt  Δt E  A  Δt 1000 W/m2  10 cm 2  1 s

a) NPh      5.051  1019
WP h h f hc 6.6  10  34 W  s 2  3  10 8 m/s
 1000  10  9 m
charge N q 5.051  1019  1.6  10 19 As
jMax   Ph   80.8 mA/cm2
time  area Δt  ACell 1 s  10 cm2

ΔWG 1.12 eV
 
8.63105 eV/K 298.15K
b) Saturation current density: jS  KS  e k T  40 000 A/cm  e
2
 5 fA/cm2

I SC j 80.8 mA/cm2
Open circuit voltage: VOC  VT  ln  VT  ln Max  26 mV  ln  791 mV
IS jS 5  10 15 A/cm2

VOC 791 mV
1  ln(  0.72) 1  ln(  0.72)
VT 26 mV
c) With Equation (4.18): FF  1  1  85.9 %
UL 791 mV
1 1
UT 26 mV

VOC  jMax  FF 0.791 V  80.8 mA/cm2  0.859

d) With Equation (4.48): T    54.9 %
E 1000 W/m2

e)   jMax  1000  80.8 A/cm2

jMax

1000  jMax
VOC  VT  ln  VOC  VT  ln 1000  791 mV  26 mV  6.908  971 mV
jS

VOC 971 mV
1  ln(  0.72) 1  ln(  0.72)
VT 26 mV
FF   1   1  87.9 %

VOC 971 mV
1 1
VT 26 mV

  jMax
VOC   FF  0.971 V  80.8 A/cm2  0.879
T    68.9 %
E 1 000 000 W/m2

K. Mertens Textbook PV Solutions to Exercises