Simulation of Electrical Characteristics of PERC Solar Cells

In recent years, silicon solar cells have reached efficiencies above 24%, which is ensuring rapid progress in the photovoltaic (PV) market. We review herein recent passivated emitter rear cell (PERC) technology and the influence of the contact resistance and temperature dependence on the output properties by using Silvaco technology computer-aided design (TCAD) tools. This numerical simulation indicates efficiency of 24.82% for the n-type monocrystalline PERC cell, with open-circuit voltage of up to 761 mV. PV parameters, such as the open-circuit voltage (V-oc), short-circuit current (J(sc)), maximum power (P-max), fill factor, and efficiency (eta), are compared with those of other device architectures.