Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 6200825 |
| Pages (from-to) | 247-255 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | IEEE journal of photovoltaics |
| Volume | 2 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Publication status | Published - 2012 |
Abstract
Increasing the area of interdigitated back-contact (IBC) solar cells featuring a busbar contact geometry requires the use of longer fingers. The finger resistance will, thus, be increased if the thickness of the metallization is kept constant. In order to maintain a thin metallization, it is beneficial to increase the number of busbars per contact. However, using more than one busbar for each polarity implies an asymmetric contact geometry. As a consequence, under operation, the busbars of the same polarity carry different currents. Due to voltage drops over unavoidable electrical resistances, this may lead to significant potential differences between these busbars. Since current-voltage characteristics are usually measured using separate sense contacts for the voltage measurement, the position and number of these contacts may considerably affect the shape of the resulting current-voltage characteristic and, thus, the fill factor. By means of simulations with the circuit simulator LTSpice, we show that a permanent contacting with soldered tabs allows for a correct determination of the fill factor. A chuck used for temporary contacting should feature at least one sense contact per busbar and pin contacting resistances below 30 mΩ in order to keep the fill factor error below 0.5% absolute.
Keywords
- Current-voltage characteristics, fill factor, interdigitated back-contact (IBC) solar cell
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Materials Science(all)
- Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
- Physics and Astronomy(all)
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Engineering(all)
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering
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In: IEEE journal of photovoltaics, Vol. 2, No. 3, 6200825, 2012, p. 247-255.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Contacting interdigitated back-contact solar cells with four busbars for precise current-voltage measurements under standard testing conditions
AU - Schinke, Carsten
AU - Kiefer, Fabian
AU - Offer, Matthias
AU - Hinken, David
AU - Schmidt, Arne
AU - Harder, Nils Peter
AU - Bock, Robert
AU - Brendemühl, Till
AU - Schmidt, Jan
AU - Bothe, Karsten
AU - Brendel, Rolf
N1 - Funding Information: Manuscript received January 30, 2012; revised March 23, 2012; accepted April 4, 2012. Date of publication May 16, 2012; date of current version June 18, 2012. This work was supported by the scholarship program of the German Federal Environmental Foundation (Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt) and the State of Lower Saxony.
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - Increasing the area of interdigitated back-contact (IBC) solar cells featuring a busbar contact geometry requires the use of longer fingers. The finger resistance will, thus, be increased if the thickness of the metallization is kept constant. In order to maintain a thin metallization, it is beneficial to increase the number of busbars per contact. However, using more than one busbar for each polarity implies an asymmetric contact geometry. As a consequence, under operation, the busbars of the same polarity carry different currents. Due to voltage drops over unavoidable electrical resistances, this may lead to significant potential differences between these busbars. Since current-voltage characteristics are usually measured using separate sense contacts for the voltage measurement, the position and number of these contacts may considerably affect the shape of the resulting current-voltage characteristic and, thus, the fill factor. By means of simulations with the circuit simulator LTSpice, we show that a permanent contacting with soldered tabs allows for a correct determination of the fill factor. A chuck used for temporary contacting should feature at least one sense contact per busbar and pin contacting resistances below 30 mΩ in order to keep the fill factor error below 0.5% absolute.
AB - Increasing the area of interdigitated back-contact (IBC) solar cells featuring a busbar contact geometry requires the use of longer fingers. The finger resistance will, thus, be increased if the thickness of the metallization is kept constant. In order to maintain a thin metallization, it is beneficial to increase the number of busbars per contact. However, using more than one busbar for each polarity implies an asymmetric contact geometry. As a consequence, under operation, the busbars of the same polarity carry different currents. Due to voltage drops over unavoidable electrical resistances, this may lead to significant potential differences between these busbars. Since current-voltage characteristics are usually measured using separate sense contacts for the voltage measurement, the position and number of these contacts may considerably affect the shape of the resulting current-voltage characteristic and, thus, the fill factor. By means of simulations with the circuit simulator LTSpice, we show that a permanent contacting with soldered tabs allows for a correct determination of the fill factor. A chuck used for temporary contacting should feature at least one sense contact per busbar and pin contacting resistances below 30 mΩ in order to keep the fill factor error below 0.5% absolute.
KW - Current-voltage characteristics
KW - fill factor
KW - interdigitated back-contact (IBC) solar cell
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84865184512&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/JPHOTOV.2012.2195637
DO - 10.1109/JPHOTOV.2012.2195637
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84865184512
VL - 2
SP - 247
EP - 255
JO - IEEE journal of photovoltaics
JF - IEEE journal of photovoltaics
SN - 2156-3381
IS - 3
M1 - 6200825
ER -