The influence of surface layer resistance on output characteristics of solar cells

The influence of surface layer resistance of the solar cell on the output characteristics of the device is considered. The solar cells are widely used in the production of spacecraft solar panels and the efficiency of the solar cell affects the lifetime of the vehicle. Currently, there are significant efforts to increase the efficiency of solar cells (SC). Minimizing resistance of n + -channel allows improve quality of solar cells during prolonged operation, for example in terms of radiation exposure in space. It is therefore interesting to consider more accurate models into account the effect of ohmic losses n + -channel on current-voltage characteristics of solar cells. On the basis of the differential equations for distribution of potentials and currents in a surface n + -layer of n + -p-type solar cells new expression for current-voltage characteristics is received. It has allowed to specify influence of surface n + -layer resistance (R) on output characteristics of solar cells (short circuit current, open circuit voltage, fill factor) in accordance with parameters of n + -p-junction. The simple algorithm of the numerical solution of the specified equations with calculation current-voltage characteristics of solar cells is offered. It is shown, that at the resistance of surface layer R > R n (~ 4 Ω∙cm 2 ) the short-circuit current J SC and the fill factor (η) decreases inversely proportional to , and for R n the current-voltage characteristic practically is not depend on R. The obtained results can be used in analysing the operation of spacecraft solar cells.