TY - GEN
T1 - Vertical junction Si photovoltaic cells for concentrating PV
AU - Pozner, Roni
AU - Segev, Gideon
AU - Sarfaty, Rona
AU - Kribus, Abraham
AU - Rosenwaks, Yossi
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - High concentration PV systems usually prefer tandem III-V cells to Si cells, due to the much lower conversion efficiency of the latter. We re-examine the efficiency achievable with Si Vertical Multi-Junction (VMJ) cells consisting of series-connected vertical p-n junctions within a single cell. A comprehensive 2D numerical analysis of a Si vertical junction has been performed, over a wide range of design parameters and concentration levels. The results show outstanding performance potential under high concentration of 1,000 suns and higher, with efficiencies above 29% under realistic (non-ideal) assumptions. This compares to reported efficiencies of about 20% for both real cells and previous simulations using realistic assumptions. This difference may be attributed to two effects: a better representation of the active layer photoconductivity, which lowers drastically the cell's series resistance under high concentration; and optimization of the junction dimensions without restriction due to the accepted fabrication process.
AB - High concentration PV systems usually prefer tandem III-V cells to Si cells, due to the much lower conversion efficiency of the latter. We re-examine the efficiency achievable with Si Vertical Multi-Junction (VMJ) cells consisting of series-connected vertical p-n junctions within a single cell. A comprehensive 2D numerical analysis of a Si vertical junction has been performed, over a wide range of design parameters and concentration levels. The results show outstanding performance potential under high concentration of 1,000 suns and higher, with efficiencies above 29% under realistic (non-ideal) assumptions. This compares to reported efficiencies of about 20% for both real cells and previous simulations using realistic assumptions. This difference may be attributed to two effects: a better representation of the active layer photoconductivity, which lowers drastically the cell's series resistance under high concentration; and optimization of the junction dimensions without restriction due to the accepted fabrication process.
KW - Concentrator photovoltaics
KW - Edge-illuminated cell
KW - Silicon cell
KW - Vertical multi-junction cell
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=78649235225&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1063/1.3509232
DO - 10.1063/1.3509232
M3 - ???researchoutput.researchoutputtypes.contributiontobookanthology.conference???
AN - SCOPUS:78649235225
SN - 9780735408272
T3 - AIP Conference Proceedings
SP - 58
EP - 61
BT - 6th International Conference on Concentrating Photovoltaic Systems, CPV-6
T2 - 6th International Conference on Concentrating Photovoltaic, ICPV-6
Y2 - 7 April 2010 through 9 April 2010
ER -
