A Distributed SPICE Model for Amorphous Silicon Solar Cells

This article reports on amorphous silicon solar cells on plastic foils in the substrate configuration having a front metal grid. A two-dimensional distributed circuit model of the photovoltaic cell has been developed for performance analysis and device design optimization. The circuit simulator SPICE is used to calculate current and potential distributions in a network of sub-cell circuits. This approach enables a realistic device model that predicts output current-voltage characteristics and maps Joule losses in the TCO electrode and the metal grid. As an example of usage, the optimization of contact grid geometry at various TCO sheet resistances has been performed.