String-Level Modeling of Two, Three, and Four Terminal Si-Based Tandem Modules

Henning Schulte-Huxel, Daniel J. Friedman, Adele C. Tamboli

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

26 Scopus Citations

Abstract

III-V/Si tandem solar cells have demonstrated efficiencies exceeding the theoretical efficiency limit of silicon solar cells. On the cell level, device modeling shows that three-terminal tandem (3T) devices with rear contacted bottom Si cells perform as well as operating the subcells independently (4T). However, integrating these 3T devices in a module requires voltage matching of the top and the bottom cell. Here, we investigate the robustness of parallel/series-interconnected 3T III-V/Si tandem devices in comparison with series-interconnected two terminal (2T) and independently operated (4T) devices with respect to spectral, thermal, and resistive effects. Under most conditions, interconnected 3T devices are able to perform as well as those with independent operation of the top and bottom cell, and 3T devices significantly outperform 2T devices.

Original languageAmerican English
Article number8421224
Pages (from-to)1370-1375
Number of pages6
JournalIEEE Journal of Photovoltaics
Volume8
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2018

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2011-2012 IEEE.

NREL Publication Number

  • NREL/JA-5J00-70543

Keywords

  • Module interconnection
  • multijunction solar cells
  • silicon solar cell
  • tandem device

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'String-Level Modeling of Two, Three, and Four Terminal Si-Based Tandem Modules'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this