Effect of shunt resistance and reverse saturation current on the performance of solar cells

A study of the solar cell model concerning the effect of shunt resistance (R/sub sh/) and the reverse saturation current (I/sub O/) on the performance of solar cells is presented. It is found that an upper bound for the fill factor determines the maximum attainable efficiency. Also, there is a shunt value after which the model behaves independently of the value of the shunt resistance. The effect of the product of R/sub sh/ and I/sub O/ on the maximum efficiency was further studied. This resulted in detecting a region of improved performance for both R/sub sh/ and I/sub O/.