Full area simulation of multicrystalline silicon solar cells with high spatial resolution

The simulation calculates the effects of lateral inhomogeneity on the full area of industrial solar cells with a resolution of up to 100 μm in less than 30 minutes on a desktop PC. A model interpreting each pixel of the spatially resolved input data as an elementary cell consists of more than 10
⁶
nodes. Our method reduces this complexity to 6 × 10
⁴
nodes by decomposing the data into small quadratic blocks of variable size depending on local homogeneity. The effects of the emitter sheet resistance and front side grid metallization on the distribution of the local diode voltage V(r) under open circuit conditions are demonstrated.