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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Terrestrial solar spectra, solar simulation, and solar-cell-efficiency measurement

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5912719

After a discussion of the fundamentals of light transmittance, both measured and modeled atmospheric effects (i.e., air mass, molecular and aerosal scattering, and absorption) on terrestrial solar spectra are discussed. Geometric effects, such as global rather than direct beam measurements, and detector orientation are also reviewed. The SERI proposed ASTM global and direct beam terrestrial solar spectra are also presented. Then a detailed review/evaluation of the spectral characteristics of a number of solar simulators is given. Methods of calibrating the short circuit current of a solar cell with respect to a given irradiance spectrum are discussed. In conclusion, the need for a sophisticated solar simulator is proportional to the spectral mismatch between the spectral response of the reference cell used to set the solar simulator and that of the test cell. The report recommends using the recently proposed ASTM terrestrial solar irradiance spectrum as a reference spectrum and using either filtered xenon-arc or dichroic filtered tungsten-halogen (ENX or ELH) lamps for solar simulation.

Research Organization:
Solar Energy Research Inst., Golden, CO (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-77CH00178
OSTI ID:
5912719
Report Number(s):
SERI/TR-612-964; ON: DE82002082
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English