Solar Cells, 28 (1990) 351 - 357 351

A METHOD FOR THE DETERMINATION OF THE S T A N D A R D

DEVIATIONS OF THE SOLAR CELL I - V CHARACTERISTIC
PARAMETERS

N. VEISSID
lnstituto de Pesquisas Espaciais, S~o Jos$ dos Campos, SP (Brazil)
M. T. F. DA CRUZ
Instituto de Fisica, Universidade de S~o Paulo, S~o Paulo, SP (Brazil)
A. M. DE A N D R A D E
Laborat6rio de Microeletr6nica, Escola Politdcnica da Universidade de SKo Paulo,
S~o Paulo, SP (Brazil)
(Received 12 October, 1989; accepted 21 December, 1989 )

Summary

A method for the determination of the standard deviations of the

solar cell characteristic curve fitting parameters is presented for the first
time. In this method, a Taylor series expansion of the parameters, around
their best values, is made resulting in linear functions which permit the
determination of the standard deviations with the least-squares method.
The parameters, with the respective standard deviations, were determined
from the experimental I - V characteristic curves obtained under illuminated
and dark conditions. For the studied experimental I - V curves, the diode
saturation currents, the diode factor and the shunt resistance showed smaller
standard deviations in the dark condition, and the series resistance appeared
to be more precise in the illuminated I - V characteristic.

1. Introduction

The I - V characteristic of a crystalline silicon solar cell can be repre-

sented by a two-diode equivalent-circuit model described by expression (1)
[1-3]

IV-IRsEt_+ texplV-IRsEl_ll
, 1f ,
+ (V-IRsE)/RsH -- IL (1)

where the parameters have their usual meanings and VT = kT/e. The value

0379-6787/90/$3.50 © Elsevier Sequoia/Printed in The Netherlands

352

of the photogenerated current (/L) for the dark condition I - V curve is

obviously zero.
Several methods were proposed [ 4 - 6 ] for the determination of the
parameters (I01, I02, A, RSE, RSH and IL) of the theoretical I - V curve from
the experimental data. The fitting procedure requires the utilization of a
minimization criterion relating the theoretical with the experimental data.
Among the different criteria found [2, 7 - 9 ] , the work of Polman et al.
[10] utilizes the least-squares fit technique which, when conveniently
applied, can be used for either dark or illuminated I - V solar cell curves.
The principal advantage of the ×2 minimisation criterion, given by eqn. (2),
is that it permits the assessment of fit quality [11].

N llmi--I(Vi)l 2
X 2= (2)
i =, Si
In eqn. (2), Imi is the experimental current value measured at the Vi
voltage, I is the value of the calculated current from eqn. (1) at the voltage
Vi, N is the number of measured points taken from the I - V experimental
curve and Si is the standard deviation of the measured current. The Si
value can be a constant or a function of the current, depending of the
I - V characteristic measurement method. Its value, however, must be known
to permit the assessment of the fit quality with the use of the ×2 test and,
also, to obtain the standard deviations of the parameters.

2. Theoretical basis of the method

The first derivative of X 2 around its minimum is zero for the best set
of parameters obtained by the curve fitting. This is represented by the set
of eqns. (3)

N [l~iaI
(3)
i =l t Si 2 ] Oaj •= aj=min X2

where ai are the parameters of eqn. (1). In the case of solar cells under illu-
mination j = 1 - 6, and for solar cell curves in the dark condition j = 1 - 5.
The first approximation Taylor series terms containing as are given
by eqns. (4) and (5).
~I _ ~I] 5,6 / 021 ]
+ (4)
~aj Oaj aj = m i n X2 k = 1 ~ U U k OUJ a k , aj = m i n x 2 ]

I-~ai -- ~¢lj aj = r a i n X2 ..I. k5~= ! -~~akt ~jaj ] ak,aj:min×,

6ah correspond to increments in the parameters ak of eqns. (3) - (5),
appearing implicitly in eqn. (1). Substituting eqns. (4) and (5) in eqn. (3),
 353

a set of linear equations for 8ak is produced and a 5X 5 matrix is obtained

for the dark condition I-V
curve. A 6X6 matrix is, correspondingly, ob-
tained for the illuminated condition solar cell curve. In the matricial form,
the equations containing the parameters obtained in the fit are described
by eqn. (6),
M. ~A = D (6)
where the M matrix elements are given by eqn. (7).

N(~)t 02I (0~--a/k)(0~--a//)f (7)

Mjk = ,~1 (Im, -- I) 0aj 0a-----~ "i. "k =rain x ~

The parameters standard deviations are given by the diagonal elements

of the inverse matrix of M,
as shown in eqn. (8)
8k2 = Mku-1 (8)
The M-1 matrix is known as the covariance matrix of the system
and its off-diagonal elements are covariances between the parameters [11].
To obtain the standard deviations from eqn. (8), one must get the first
and the second derivatives appearing in eqn. (7). The first derivatives of
the current explicited in eqn. (7) are given by eqns. (9) - (14).
aI
O-iool-lexpIV-IRszl--ll/(VT
1\ ] RSEXl)
+ (9)

0I
]
0~-02- I exp~[V-IRsz'--lf/(I+RsE)tl)-AVTT (lO)

01
0A-
I
Io2 exp I
[V-IRsE,
-~W ] f(V-IRszt
\ VT ] (11A2)1(1+ RSE~.I) (11)

01 --A1
(12)
BRsE (1 + RSEkl)
0I
0RsH
- (V-IRsz)(1/RsH2)/(1+RszXl) (13)

0I --1
(14)
ML (1 + RSEXl)
where Xl is given by eqn. (15).

)tl--//°l)leXP,
vT ( VT /f/ [~A--V-TTJlexpt
I02 ~l [V-IRsE~]f
~VT-T + -RsH1 (15)

The second derivatives can be obtained by algebraic manipulation of

eqns. (9) - (14).
354

3. Results and discussion

In o r d e r t o test the m e t h o d , a space qualified silicon solar cell pro-

d u c e d at the L a b o r a t S r i o de MicroeletrSnica de S~o Paulo University was
utilized. T h e n ÷ - p s t r u c t u r e single crystal silicon solar cell w i t h a t o t a l
area o f 3.94 cm 2 was p r e p a r e d b y c o n v e n t i o n a l p h o s p h o r u s t h e r m a l diffu-
sion and has T i / P d / A g f r o n t m e t a l l i z a t i o n and A1/Ti/Pd/Ag back metalliza-
tion. Its I - V dark characteristic curve was t a k e n at the t e m p e r a t u r e o f
25 °C, p o i n t b y p o i n t w i t h voltage and c u r r e n t being read with M o d e l 3 4 6 6 A
HP m u l t i m e t e r s . Table 1 shows the e x p e r i m e n t a l d a t a o b t a i n e d for the
c u r r e n t as a f u n c t i o n o f the voltage. A statistical s t u d y p e r f o r m e d o n several
m e a s u r e m e n t s s h o w e d t h a t the s t a n d a r d deviations in the c u r r e n t is a p p r o x -
i m a t e l y equal to 0.5% o f the full scale, as Table 1 also shows.

TABLE 1
Measured and calculated currents at selected voltage values of the dark condition I - V
solar cell characteristic

Voltage Measured current Calculated current Measured current

Vi (mV) Imi (mA) I (mA) standard deviation
Si (mA)

300.0 0.0449 0.0446 0.0010

320.0 0.0698 0.0696 0.0010
340.0 0.1120 0.1119 0.0010
360.0 0.186 0.1866 0.010
380.0 0.323 0.324 0.010
400.0 0.587 0.587 0.010
420.0 1.110 1.107 0.010
440.0 2.16 2.159 0.10
460.0 4.34 4.328 0.10
480.0 8.85 8.829 0.10
500.0 18.10 18.13 0.10
520.0 36.7 36.9 1.0

T h e illuminated I - V curve was t a k e n w i t h an Oriel Solar S i m u l a t o r

w i t h simulated air mass 0 (AM0) (135 mW c m -2) c o n d i t i o n at 25 °C. T a b l e 2
shows the m e a s u r e d and calculated c u r r e n t , as well as the standard devia-
tions, at selected voltage points.
T o o b t a i n the m i n i m u m values f o r the ×2, an iterative p r o c e d u r e is
p e r f o r m e d f o r t h e illuminated and dark I - V curves. F o r the studied solar
cell, T a b l e 3 shows t h e values o f the f i t t e d p a r a m e t e r s w h i c h yielded
the m i n i m u m value f o r ×2, given b y eqn. (2). In t h e dark c o n d i t i o n I - V
curve, t h e o b t a i n e d X2 m i n i m u m value was 0 . 8 5 9 and f o r t h e illuminated
I - V curve is 0.486. Within t h e ×2 test these values have a 99.5% p r o b a b i l i t y
o f being e x c e e d e d w h e n r e p e a t i n g the e x p e r i m e n t . This m e a n s t h a t the mea-
sured c u r r e n t s t a n d a r d deviations used are slightly greater t h a n their actual
values [ 1 1 ] . C o r r e s p o n d i n g l y , t h e p a r a m e t e r s d e t e r m i n e d in this w o r k are
 355

TABLE 2
Measured and calculated currents at selected voltage values of illuminated I - V solar cell
characteristic (AM0 condition at 135 mW'cm -2 and 25 °C)

Voltage Measured current Calculated current Measured current

V/(mV) Imi (mA) I (mA) standard deviation
S i (mA)

0.0 151.0 151.06 1.0

98.0 151.0 151.06 1.0
198.0 150.9 151.03 1.0
298.0 150.8 150.84 1.0
398.0 149.4 149.24 1.0
448.0 144.8 144.57 1.0
478.0 135.5 135.60 1.0
498.0 122.4 122.53 1.0
508.0 111.7 112.11 1.0
518.0 98.0 97.91 1.0
528.0 79.1 78.82 1.0
538.0 53.5 53.61 1.0
548.0 21.3 21.05 1.0
558.0 --20.1 --19.91 1.0

TABLE 3
Values of the I - V curve parameters as obtained by the fit (the standard deviations were
calculated with the new method)

Parameter Illuminated condition Dark condition

JL (mA cm - 2 ) 38.34 + 0.12 --

Jol (mA c m - : ) (1.438 -+ 0.075) × 10 - s (1.540 + 0.017) × 10 -8
Jo2 (mA cm -2 ) (1.80 + 1.24) × 10 - 4 (0.358 + 0.051) × 10 - 4
A 2.09 + 0.17 ' 2.101 + 0.045
RSE (ohm) 0.0586 + 0.0078 0.056 + 0.018
RSH (ohm) (0.50 + 46) x 106 (0.30 + 0.27) × 106

slightly more precise than we quoted. Table 3 shows the calculated standard
deviations obtained with eqn. (8).

4. Conclusions

The m e t h o d gives the standard deviations of the parameters of curves

fitted with the minimization of X2. This allows the assessment of the accu-
racy of the value of each parameter of the two-exponential model, shown
in eqn. (1), either in the illuminated or in the dark I - V characteristics
of the solar cells.
356

T h e s t a n d a r d d e v i a t i o n s o f the p h o t o c u r r e n t (IL) p e r m i t t h e evalua-

tion o f the stability of the light i n t e n s i t y d u r i n g the m e a s u r e m e n t s . As a
suggested e x a m p l e of the p o w e r o f t h e m e t h o d f o r this case, a c h e c k crite-
rion c o u l d be t h a t f o r IL values w i t h s t a n d a r d d e v i a t i o n s higher t h a n 1%
the o b t a i n e d e x p e r i m e n t a l curve w o u l d n o t be so g o o d . T h e b a d results
p r o b a b l y being a c o n s e q u e n c e o f significant changes in light i n t e n s i t y d u r i n g
t h e I - V sweep.
As a n o t h e r e x a m p l e o f t h e m e r i t s o f the m e t h o d , it can be seen t h a t
t h e I02 and A s t a n d a r d d e v i a t i o n values are smaller in the d a r k I - V curve
t h a n in the i l l u m i n a t e d c o n d i t i o n curve. T h i s is d u e t o t h e f a c t t h a t the
n u m e r i c a l c o n t r i b u t i o n o f t h e g e n e r a t i o n - r e c o m b i n a t i o n p r o c e s s in the
space charge region is less i m p o r t a n t , f o r g o o d solar cells, in t h e i l l u m i n a t e d
I - V c h a r a c t e r i s t i c t h a n in the d a r k I - V curve.
In c o n c l u s i o n , this m e t h o d p e r m i t s a q u a n t i t a t i v e analysis o f t h e
superposition principle [12-14] f o r t h e solar cell being studied. F o r ex-
a m p l e , f o r the solar cell u s e d t o t e s t this m e t h o d , it is possible to say t h a t
t h e s u p e r p o s i t i o n p r i n c i p l e is o b e y e d at r o o m t e m p e r a t u r e a n d i l l u m i n a t i o n
b e t w e e n zero and A M 0 c o n d i t i o n s . This c o n c l u s i o n arises f r o m t h e c o m -
p a r i s o n o f t h e p a r a m e t e r s in T a b l e 3 w h e r e the values o b t a i n e d f o r illumi-
nated and dark conditions differ a p p r o x i m a t e l y by one standard deviation.

References
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New York, 1975.
2 M. Wolf, G. T. Noel and R. J. Stirn, IEEE Trans. Electron. Devices, ED-24 (1977)
419.
3 A. L. Fahrenbruch and R. H. Bube, Fundamentals o f Solar Cells - - P h o t o v o l t a i c
Solar Energy Conversion, Academic Press, New York, 1983.
4 M. Wolf and H. Rauschenbach, Adv. Energy Cony., 3 (1963) 455.
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McGraw Hill, New York, 1969.
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919.

Appendix A: Nomenclature
a estimated parameter from I-V equation
A ideality f a c t o r in d i o d e e q u a t i o n
 357

D column vector of right side from matrix equation

e electron charge (1.6 × 10 -19 C)
I electric current
IL light-generated current
Im measured current
101 saturation current due to the diffusion of minority carriers into the
junction
lo2 saturation current due to the recombination and generation of carriers
through defect centers located in the space charge region of p - n
junction
M matrix of coefficients
N number of data points
k Boltzmann constant (8.62 × 10 -s eV K -1)
RsE series resistance
RSH shunt resistance
St uncertainty associated with each measurement Im
Sk parameter standard deviation from I - V equation
T temperature
V voltage
VT thermal voltage
5A column vector of increment
~a increment of parameter
X2 chi square