A Detailed Full-Cell Model of a 2018 Commercial PERC Solar Cell in Quokka3

• Published in: IEEE journal of photovoltaics Vol. 8; no. 6; pp. 1443 - 1448
• Main Authors: Fell, Andreas, Altermatt, Pietro P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Piscataway IEEE 01-11-2018; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Busbars; Computer networks; Computer simulation; Domains; Electric contacts; Emitters; Full-cell; Modeling; PERC; Photovoltaic cells; Quokka; Silicon; Simulation; Skin; solar cell; Solar cells; State of the art
• ISSN: 2156-3381; 2156-3403
• DOI: 10.1109/JPHOTOV.2018.2863548

An unprecedented detailed model of a full-size passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC) solar cell design, as manufactured at a current Trina Solar production-line during ramp-up, is presented. Combining a newly proposed multidomain approach with the multiscale skin-concept of Quokka3, the 15.6 cm × 15.6 cm three-dimensional cell geometry including the details of the emitter skins can thoroughly be solved within a single simulation. The multidomain approach uses an inner and two edge domains as irreducible symmetry elements, each containing the unequal front and rear pitch, the dashed rear contacts, as well as part of the busbars and consequently the full finger resistance. The full-cell current density is then determined by simple area-averaging, opposed to the more complicated common approach of coupling it with a distributed network model. The multiscale skin approach enables to model all emitter parts of the PERC cell in detail (accounting for dopant profiles, front surface recombination, Fermi-Dirac statistics, etc.), whereas the other skin regions can still be described by their lumped properties, i.e., R sheet and J 0 / S eff . A complete set of carefully established electrical and optical input parameters as well as a detailed loss breakdown is presented, providing fellow researchers with a point of reference for modeling a state-of-the-art PERC solar cell in 2018.