Determining the generation profile for silicon solar cells from lumped optical parameters

An optical model for silicon solar cells that determines the generation profile G from the lumped parameters front surface transmission T_ext and pathlength enhancement Z is investigated. Simpler than the well-known `Basore model´, it links effective (measurable) optical and electrical characteristics of solar cells with G. By comparisons against ray tracing the model is found to be accurate for typical wafer-based silicon solar cells, with the error in short-circuit current density being less than 0.1 mA/cm² for a wide range of conditions. The model provides a minimalistic way to calculate G from the characterization of finished cells, and a short-cut for ray tracing, which calculates Text and Z with significantly less computational effort than G. In combination with a recently proposed thickness-independent parameterization of Z, it enables simple, rapid and accurate sweeping of cell thickness within solar cell device modeling.