Response of a solar cell partially illuminated by a nonuniform light source

Abstract

The response of a solar cell with an incident light beam having a non-uniform intensity distribution is theoretically analysed. From the solution of the two-dimenaional diffusion equation, the photogenerated carrier density in the illuminated zone is obtained, and the corresponding short-circuit current is estimated. Theoretical curves for current versus width of the exposer of the beam for different values of the thickness of the skin layer of the cell are plotted. This paper also presents an experimental procedure for measuring the response characteristics of the solar cell to a light beam having a non-uniform intensity distribution. A He–Ne laser beam is used as the source of light. Experiments are carried out and the results are compared with the theoretical curves. Results show a somewhat quantitative agreement with the theory.