Influence of local shunting on the electrical performance in industrial Silicon solar cells

The paper presents the results of investigation on the influence of an ohmic shunt located at various spatial positions on the solar cell performance by distributed diode model based simulations. By systematically varying the parameters such as shunt resistance, proximity to metallization, shunt area, and irradiance a deep insight about the shunt impact on the solar cell performance have been obtained. Further, effect of spatial positioning of shunts has been investigated by considering shunted region of same area and severity at various locations of the solar cell, via the simulation approach. The presented simulation approach has been experimentally validated. The influence of shunt on the relative power and relative open circuit voltage has been studied considering different irradiance levels. The study revealed new insights about significance of spatial positions of the shunts and the proximity of finger and busbar metallization. A dramatic improvement in the solar cell's electrical performance can be gained by either preventing the occurrence of shunts at the identified critical locations or isolating them by laser or chemical technique or removing them.