Optical Simulation of Si Wafer Solar Cell Reflectance and Benefit for Temperature Control

Si wafer solar cell makes a ~90% of the market share with the fabrication process impacting the infrared optical response of the complete devices. The major optical losses in a silicon wafer solar cell are the parasitic absorption of sunlight within the solar cell at the rear metal back contact and reflection at long wavelength region which may heat the devices and reduces the operating efficiency. The temperature of a solar module can be reduced by reducing/rejecting unwanted heat and parasitic absorption. To reduce heating, it may be desirable to make devices more reflective in longer wavelength (infrared) and with less parasitic absorption in the near-infrared and visible spectral range. We will discuss optical simulation of aluminum back surface field (Al-BSF) and passivated emitter rear contact (PERC) solar cells. We use commercial Ray Tracing software to simulate the total reflectance of devices. This approach, focuses on simulating reflectance, is serve as input for the model used in reducing operating temperature for solar cells.