THERMAL AND ELECTRICAL BEHAVIORS OF SILICON PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS WITH ANTIREFLECTION LAYERS

DOI: 10.1615/ICHMT.2008.CHT.2270
11 pages

Mohamed Amara
Centre de Thermique de Lyon (CETHIL, CNRS-INSA Lyon-UCBL), Bât. Sadi Carnot, INSA-Lyon, 69621 Villeurbanne Cedex, France

Rodolphe Vaillon
Centre de Thermique de Lyon (CETHIL, CNRS/INSA Lyon/UCBL), Domaine Scientifique de La Doua, 20 av. A. Einstein, 69621 Villeurbanne Cedex, France

Christophe Menezo
Universite de Lyon, CNRS, France ; Chaire INSA-EDF Habitats et Innovations Energetiques, CETHIL, UMR5008, F-69621, Villeurbanne, France; University Savoie Mont-Blanc, LOCIE UMR CNRS 5271, Campus Scientifique Savoie Technolac − F- 73376, Le Bourget-du-Lac, France

Abstract

In this work, thermal and electrical behaviors of silicon photovoltaic cells are investigated taking into consideration the multi-layer antireflection coating. An extended version of a physical and numerical model which couples spectral radiation, thermal and electric carrier transport phenomena involved in the functioning of a photovoltaic cell is described. Calculations of optimized SiN/SiO₂ antireflection layers and associated resulting cell’s temperature, short-circuit current, open-circuit voltage and electrical power are analyzed as a function of thermal and radiative boundary conditions.