Interdigitated back-contact silicon solar cell analysis and design recommendations for space use. Technical report

Technical Report · Sat Sep 30 04:00:00 EDT 1989

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6793993· OSTI ID:6793993

Marvin, D C; Froedge, S L

The Interdigitated Back Contact (IBC) solar cell is a relatively new design which has shown unprecedentedly high efficiencies. Silicon Interdigitated Back Contact cells have been fabricated that show greater than 25% efficiency at 100 suns Air Mass 1.5. This is far superior to conventional silicon concentrator cells which are approximately 18% efficient. The purpose of this report is to describe briefly the differences between this technology and conventional cells, demonstrate a near optimum design achieved by two-dimensional numerical simulation, and assess the utility of these cells for space application. The end of life (EOL) performance of this cell design in the radiation environment of space is a critical issue since the high efficiency of the design is predicated on the use of very high quality, long-diffusion length silicon. The radiation-induced degradation of this material is expected to lead to severe efficiency losses. The optimization of cell design to minimize these losses was carried out using a modified version of the 2-dimensional PISCES semiconductor simulator. The final designs presented here show that the performance of IBC cells in space can significantly exceed that of conventional cells.

• Research Organization: Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, CA (USA). Chemistry and Physics Lab.
• OSTI ID: 6793993
• Report Number(s): AD-A-220414/7/XAB; TR--0088(3945-01)-1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140501* -- Solar Energy Conversion-- Photovoltaic Conversion
ANALOG SYSTEMS
DESIGN
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
DOCUMENT TYPES
EFFICIENCY
ELECTRIC POWER
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
ELEMENTS
EQUIPMENT
FABRICATION
FUNCTIONAL MODELS
LOSSES
MATERIALS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MATHEMATICS
NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
OPTIMIZATION
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
PHYSICAL RADIATION EFFECTS
POWER
POWER SUPPLIES
PROGRESS REPORT
RADIATION EFFECTS
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
SEMIMETALS
SILICON
SILICON SOLAR CELLS
SIMULATORS
SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS