Temperature effects in silicon solar cells

• Published in: Solid-state electronics 1980-01, Vol.23 (10), p.1021-1028
• Main Authors: Agarwala, Amita, Tewary, V.K., Agarwal, S.K., Jain, S.C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0038-1101; 1879-2405
• DOI: 10.1016/0038-1101(80)90178-1

The temperature variation of the relative spectral response RSR, short circuit current I sc and open circuit voltage V oc is measured and the results are theoretically discussed. The RSR at wavelengths larger than the peak wavelengths always increases with temperature. The observed increase is found to agree with theory when temperature variation of the absorption coefficient of light and of L n the carrier diffusion length in the base is taken into account properly. The temperature variation of short wavelength RSR depends on S, the surface recombination velocity and L p d , L p is the carrier diffusion length in the diffused layer and d is the junction depth. If S is small and L p d is large, the RSR is practically independent of temperature. On the other hand if S is large and/or L p d is small, the RSR decreases as the temperature increases. A new relation between L n , d and the peak position of RSR is derived. The observed temperature shift in the peak position agrees well with that predicted by this relation. The temperature increase of I sc and decrease of V oc are different for AM0 and AM1 illuminations. The observed differences can be explained at least qualitatively on the basis of the results obtained in this paper.