Analysing lateral inhomogeneities of silicon solar cells using a quasi 3D circuit simulation tool based on SPICE

An optimised quasi 3D network model of a solar cell has been developed. The network consists of resistances representing the emitter, the front side metallisation and the contact between metal and semiconductor, and of two diodes and a current source at each node or alternatively of devices based on a table containing local dark or illuminated IV-data. As simulation software a SPICE derivative is used. In the first part of this contribution the design of the network model is described, followed by an analysis of the required resolution of the network model and a test of its consistency. As an application example the network model is used to analyse the influence of a different number of shunts with different character and position on the cell area on global IV characteristic parameters and on local voltage distributions.