4th International Conference on Computer Integrated Manufacturing CIP’2007  03-04 November 2007
New method to extract the parameters of solar cells
from their illuminated I-V curve
K. Bouzidi, M. Chegaar*and N. Nehaoua
Physics Department, Ferhat Abbas University, 19000, Sétif, Algeria
bouzidikamel2@yahoo.fr
Abstract- A new technique to evaluate the five illuminated
solar cell parameters with a single diode lumped circuit model.
These parameters are usually the saturation current (Is), the
series resistance (Rs), the ideality factor (n), the shunt
conductance (Gsh) and the photocurrent (Iph).
The method includes the presentation of the standard I=f (V)
function as V=f (I) and the determination of the factors C0, C1, C2
of this function that provide the calculation of the illuminated
solar cell parameters. Parameter values were extracted using the
present method from experimental I–V characteristics of a
commercial solar cell and a module.
I. INTRODUCTION
An accurate knowledge of solar cell parameters from
experimental data is of vital importance for the design, quality
control of solar cells and for estimates of their performance.
Several methods for the determination of Gsh, Iph, Rs, Is,
and n are proposed by several authors [1-15]. Some of the
methods involve measurement of illuminated I-V
characteristics at single or different levels of illumination [1-6],
some use dark conditions [7-8], while other utilizes dark and
illumination measurements [9-10]. Recent methods use the
measured current voltage characteristics and the subsequently
calculated conductance of the device [11-12].
A review of techniques to determine the ideality factor and
or the series resistance of solar cells has been given by Mialhe
et al. [13] and Bashahu et al. [14]. In addition a comparative
study of extraction methods for solar cell parameters has been
dealt with in a previous paper [15].
Recent works have been published [16-20] and present
new methods in order to compute the different parameters of
interest. Authors [16] have presented interesting mathematical
techniques that introduce new formulations to extract the single
exponential model parameters of plastic solar cells.
The high performance of these methods is inferred after
application to devices with very high series and shunt lost. A
study in simulation [18] is concerned with organic solar cells,
which are generally characterized by 2 to 4 order of magnitude
larger series resistance values and by relatively small shunt
resistance values and where the photocurrent is generally about
1000 times smaller than for classical silicon cells. The study
considers the effects on the IV characteristic, of any changes in
the parameters values. Recently, a numerical method using a
combination of lateral and vertical optimization was used [20]
to extract the parameters of an illuminated solar cell. In
addition, least-squares numerical techniques [21–28] have been
proposed. Among the latter and of interest for us here for the
sake of comparison, is a non-linear least-squares optimization
algorithm based on the Newton method modified by
introducing the so-called Levenberg parameter [27].
Gromov et al. [29] proposed a method based on the
function V=f (I) of the PtSi/Si Schottky-diodes of different
quality in order to extract the relevant device parameters. In
this paper this technique has been adequately modified,
extended to cover the case of solar cells, and used to extract the
parameters of interest. The problem to be solved in this paper
is the evaluation of a set of five parameters (Gsh, Iph, n, Rs and
Is) in order to fit a given experimental current-voltage
characteristics using a single diode lumped circuit.
II. THEORY AND ANALYSIS
The current-voltage characteristic of the solar cell can be
presented by either a two diode model [8, 30] or by a single
diode model [31]. Under illumination and non stressed
operating conditions, the single diode model is however the
most popular model for solar cells.
At a given illumination, the current–voltage relation for a
solar cell is given by:
I = I ph − I d − I p
(1)
⎡ ⎛β ⎞ ⎤
= I ph − I s ⎢exp⎜ (V + IRs )⎟ − 1⎥ − G sh (V + IRs )
⎣ ⎝ n ⎠ ⎦
Iph, Id and Ip, being the photocurrent, the diode current and
the shunt current. Is, n, Rs and Gsh (=1/Rsh) are the diode
saturation current, the diode quality factor, the series
resistance, and the shunt conductance, respectively. Rsh is the
shunt resistance and β = q kT is the usual inverse thermal
voltage. (1) is implicit and no solvable analytically.
4th International Conference on Computer Integrated Manufacturing CIP’2007  03-04 November 2007

The model can also be used for modules where the cells
are connected in series and /or parallel, provided that the cell ⎧ N 2 N ⎛ I ⎞ N N
variations are small enough. ⎪C1 ∑ Ii + C2 ∑ Iiln ⎜⎜1 − ci ⎟⎟ + C0 ∑ Ii = ∑ IiVi
⎪ i =1 i =1 ⎝ I pA ⎠ i =1 i −1
⎪
Equation (1) can be written as: ⎪ N N ⎛ Ici ⎞ N

⎪C1 ∑ I i + C 2 ∑ ln ⎜1 − ⎟ + C0 N = ∑Vi
⎜ I ⎟ (9)
⎡ ⎛β ⎞ ⎤ ⎪ i =1 i =1 ⎝ pA ⎠ i −1
I = I pA − I 0 ⎢exp⎜ (V + IR s )⎟ − 1⎥ − G AV (2) ⎨
⎣ ⎝ n ⎠ ⎦ ⎪ N ⎛ Ici ⎞ N ⎛ Ici ⎞
⎪C1 ∑ Ii ln ⎜1 − I ⎟ + C2 ∑ln ⎜1 − I ⎟
⎜ ⎟ 2⎜ ⎟
⎪ i =1 ⎝ pA ⎠ i =1 ⎝ pA ⎠
Where:
⎪ N ⎛ ⎞ N ⎛ ⎞
⎧ ⎪+ C ln ⎜1 − Ici ⎟ = V ln ⎜1 − Ici ⎟
0∑ ∑
I ph
⎪ I pA = ⎜ ⎟ ⎜ ⎟
1 + ⎪ i
⎪ G sh R s
⎩ i =1 ⎝ I pA ⎠ i −1 ⎝ I pA ⎠
⎪⎪ Is (3)
⎨ I0 =
⎪ 1 + G sh R s
The given system can be easily solved by means of
⎪ G sh
⎪ GA = Kramer’s rule. (Ii-Vi) are the measured values of the current-
⎩⎪ 1 + G sh R s voltage at the ith point among N data points and Ici is the
corrected measured current. The series resistance, the ideality
For low and negative bias voltages, the exponential part is factor and the current, I0, values are determined from the
negligible and (2) can be written as: following equations:

I = I PA − G AV (4) ⎧ R s = −C1
⎪
⎨ n = βC 2 (10)
GA, IpA are evaluated from (4) by a simple linear fit. ⎪ I = I exp(− C C )
⎩ 0 pA 0 2

The calculated value of GA gives the product (GAV) which

can be added in turn to the measured current to yield the Substituting the values of Rs and I0 obtained in (10), the
corrected current across the solar cell and is given by: shunt conductance, the photocurrent, and the diode saturation
current values are determined from:
Ic = I + G A V (5)
⎧ GA
Under forward bias for (V+RsI)>>kT the current across the ⎪ G sh = 1 − G R
device is given by: ⎪ A s
⎪⎪ I pA
⎨ I ph = (11)
⎡ ⎛β ⎞⎤ ⎪ 1 − G A Rs
I c = I pA − I 0 ⎢exp⎜ (V + IR s )⎟⎥ (6)
⎣ ⎝ n ⎠⎦ ⎪ I0
⎪ Is =
⎩⎪ 1 − G A Rs
To evaluate the series resistance, the ideality factor and the
diode saturation current, we use (I) instead of (V) as the
independent variable in (6), we obtain: III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The measured I-V data of different solar cells and modules
n I pA n⎛ I ⎞
V= ln + ln⎜1 − c ⎟ − Rs I (7) are considered in this work .the data of a 57 mm diameter
β I0 β ⎜⎝ I pA ⎟
⎠ commercial silicon solar cell and a solar module in which 36
polycrystalline silicon cells are connected in series are taken
This expression can be presented in the common form from the work of Easwarakhanthan et al.[27].other measured
data,of a CIS solar module of 734 cm² area and mono-Si solar
⎛ I ⎞ cell of 100 cm²area, are also considered. The series resistances
f ( I ) = C 0 + C1 I + C 2 ln⎜1 − c ⎟ (8)
⎜ I pA ⎟ and the ideality factor are evaluated from (10).Then the shunt
⎝ ⎠
conductance, the photocurrent, and the saturation current are
The values of factors C0, C1, C2 can be obtained by means of evaluated using (11).
the experimental current-voltage data array using a least In order to test the quality of the fit to the experimental
squares method. This results in the system of equations. data, statistical analysis of the results was performed. The root
4th International Conference on Computer Integrated Manufacturing CIP’2007  03-04 November 2007

mean squared error (RMSE), the mean bias error (MBE) and
the mean absolute error (MAE) are the fundamental measures 3.5
measured
of accuracy. Thus RMSE, MBE and MAE are given by: 3.0 calculated

[ ]
2.5
⎧
⎪ RMSE = (1 / m ) ∑1 (I i / I cal ,i − 1)
m 1/ 2
2
Gsh=0.0262Ω
2.0 -1

Current (A)
Rs =0.0613Ω
⎪
⎨MBE = (1 / m )∑1 (I i / I cal ,i − 1)
1.5
m
(12) n=1.7538

⎪
1.0 Is=5.6766 µA

⎪
Iph=3.1656 A
MAE = (1 / m ) ∑ (I i / I cal ,i − 1)
m 0.5

⎪⎩ 1 0.0

-0.5
Where I cal,i is the current calculated for each Vi , by solving the -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7

implicit equation (1) with the determined set of parameters P= Voltage (V)

(Gsh, Iph, n, Rs, Is). (Ii,Vi) are respectively the measured

current and voltage at the ith point among m considered Fig. 1. Experimental (■) data and the fitted curve (―) for a silicon solar cell.
measured data points avoiding the measurement close to the
open circuit condition where the current is not well-defined
[27]. 0.4
measured
Table 1 resumes the extracted parameters from calculated
experimental data of a silicon solar cell and a module at 33°C 0.3
and 45°C, respectively. The obtained results are compared with
Gsh=0.0006Ω
-1
published data related to the same devices [27]. The agreement
between the obtained results and those published previously 0.2 Rs =6.1001Ω
Current (A)

are remarkable. Note that the proposed technique has the n=64.5980
advantage that it needs no a prior knowledge of the parameters 0.1
Is=0.0016 µA
compared to non-linear least-squares optimization method. The Iph=0.3499 A
statistical indicators of accuracy show better results of the
presented method. 0.0

Figures 1 and 2 show a comparison between the

experimental I-V data of the mono-Si solar cell and the CIS -0.1
solar module at 25°C and the fitted curves derived from (1) -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

with the parameters shown in Table 1 and extracted using our Voltage (V)
method.
Fig. 2. Experimental (o) data and the fitted curve (―) for a CIS solar Module.
TABLE I
EXTRACTED PARAMETERS OBTAINED FOR SOLAR CELL AND A MODULE
IV. CONCLUSION
Cell (33°C) Module (45°C)
Extracted
parameters
This paper presents a simple method to extract the model
In Ref In this work In Ref In this work
[27] [27] parameters of illuminated solar cells containing a series
resistance and a shunt conductance. The proposed technique is
Gsh (Ω-1) 0.0186 0.0166 0.00182 0.00181
based on the measured or theoretical current-voltage
Rs (Ω) 0.0364 0.0364 1.2057 1.2030 characteristics, and has been successfully applied to a silicon
n 1.4837 1.4816 48.450 48.1862 solar cell, a module. The results obtained are in good
agreement with those published previously. The method is
Is (µA) 0.3223 0.3267 3.2876 3.0760
easy, straightforward, does not require prior knowledge of any
Iph (A) 0.7608 0.7607 1.0318 1.0339 of the parameters of interest, not critical to the measurement
RMSE (%) 0.6251 0.3161 0.7805 0.6130 steps, less critical to the measurement device fidelity and
Mbe (%) 0.0418 -0.2757
allows automation of the measurement process.
Mae (%) 0.1786 0.3484
4th International Conference on Computer Integrated Manufacturing CIP’2007  03-04 November 2007

REFERENCES [18] A.Jain, A. Kapoor, “A new approach to study organic solar cell
using Lambert W-function.” Solar Energy Materials and Solar
Cells Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, vol. 86, 2005, pp.
[1] M. Wolf, H. Rauschenbach, Advan. Energy Convers, vol. 3, 1963, 197–205.
pp. 455-479. [19] A. Jain, A. Kapoor, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, vol.
[2] JP. Charles, M. Abdelkrim, YH. Muoy, P. Mialhe, Solar Cells, vol. 85, 2005, pp. 391–396.
4, 1981, 169-178. [20] M. Haouari-Merbah, M. Belhamel, I. Tobias, J.M. Ruiz,”
[3] SK. Agrawal, R. Muralidharam, A. Agrawala, VK. Tewary, SC. Extraction and analysis of solar cell parameters from the
Jain, J. Phys, vol. 14, 1981, pp. 1634-1646. illuminated current voltage curve.” Sol. Energy Mat. and Solar
[4] J. Cabestany, L. Castaner, Rev. Phys. Appl, vol. 18, 1983, pp 565- Cells, vol. 87, 2005, pp. 225–233.
567. [21] DSH. Chan, JR. Phillps, JCH. Phang, Solid-State Electron, vol. 29,
[5] D. Laplaze, I. Youm, Solar Cells, vol. 14, 1985, pp. 167-177. 1986, pp. 329–37.
[6] M. Warashina, A. Ushirokawa, Jpn. J. App. Phys, vol. 19, 1980, [22] J. Cabestany, L. Castaner, J. Phys D: Appl. Phys, vol. 16, 1983,
pp. 179-182. pp. 2547-2558.
[7] D. Laplaze, I. Youm, Solar Cells, vol. 14, 1985, pp 179-186. [23] D. Fuchs, H. Sigmund, Solid-State Electron, vol. 29, 1986, pp. 791-
[8] A.Kaminski, JJ. Marchand, A. Laugier, Solid-State Electron, vol. 795.
43, 1999, pp. 741-745. [24] JP. Charles, I. Mekkaoui-Allaoui, G. Bordure, Solid-State Electron,
[9] K. Rajkanan, J. Shewchun, Solid-State Electron, vol. 22, 1979, pp. vol. 28, 1985, pp. 807–820.
123-129. [25] SK. Datta, K. Mukhopadhyay, S. Bandopadhyay, H. Saha, Solid-
[10] A.G. Aberle, SR. Wenham, M.A. Green, In: 23th IEEE State Electron, vol. 11, 1992, pp. 1667-1673.
Photovoltaic Specialist Conference, 1993, 133-139. [26] JP. Charles, M. Abdelkrim, YH. Muoy, P. Mialhe, Solar Cells,
[11] Z. Ouennoughi, M. Chegaar, Solid-State Electron, “A simple vol.4, 1981, pp. 169–78.
method for extracting solar cell parameters using the conductance [27] T. Easwarakhanthan, J. Bottin, I. Bouhouch, C. Boutrit, “Nonlinear
method,” Solid-State Electronics vol. 43, 1999, pp. 1985–1988. minimization algorithm for determining the solar cell parameters
[12] M. Chegaar, Z. Ouennoughi, A. Hoffmann, “A new method for with microcomputers.” Int. J. Solar Eng., vol. 4, 1986, pp 1–12.
evaluating illuminated solar cell parameters.” Solid-State [28] DSH. Chan, GR. Philips, JCH. Phang, Solid-State Electron, Vol.
Electron, vol. 45, 2001, pp. 293–296. 29, 1986, pp. 329–337.
[13] P. Miahle, A. Khoury, JP. Charles, Phys. Status Solid. (A), vol 83, [29] D. Gromov, V. Pugachevich. J. Phys: Appl Phys, vol. 59, 1994, pp.
1984, pp 403-409. 331-333.
[14] M. Bashahu, A. Habyarimana, Renewable Energy, vol 6, 1995, pp. [30] M. Wolf, GT. Noel, RJ. Strin, IEEE Trans Electron Devices, vol.
129-138. 24, 1977, pp. 419-428.
[15] M. Chegaar, Z. Ouennoughi, F. Guechi, Vacuum, “Extracting the [31] SM. Sze, Physics of semiconductor devices, 2nd ed. New York,
parameters of solar cells under illumination”. vol. 75, 2004, pp. Wiley; 1981.A. Ortiz-Conde, Y. Ma, J. Thomson, E. Santos, JJ.
367-372 Liou, FJG. Sanchez, M. Lei, J. Finol,” Direct extraction of
[16] A. Ortiz-Conde, F. J. García Sánchez, J. Muci, “New method to semiconductor device parameters usinglateral optimization
extract the model parameters of solar cells from the explicit method.” Solid-State Electron, vol. 43, 1999, pp. 845-848.
analytic solutions of their illuminated I-V characteristics.” Solar [32] A. Ferhat-Hamida, Z. Ouennoughi, A. Hoffmann, R. Weiss,”
Energy Materials and Solar Cells, vol. 90, 2006, pp. 352–361. Extraction of Schottky diode parameters including parallel
[17] A. Jain, A. Kapoor, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, vol. 81, conductance using a vertical optimization method.” Solid-State
2004, pp. 269–277. Electron. Vol. 46, 2002, pp. 615-619.