Optimization of Finger Spacing

Combining the equations for resistive losses allows use to determine the total power loss in the top contact grid. In the following graphical simulation adjust the various parameters and determine the total power loss. For a typical cell type, say a screen printed cell, the metal resistivity will be fixed and the finger width is controlled by the screen size. Typical values for the specific resistivity of silver are 3 × 10-8 Ω m 1. For non-rectangular fingers the width is set to the actual width and an equivalent height is used to get the correct cross sectional area.

The simulation does not include the contact loss between the metal and the semiconductor or the resistive losses in the bus bars.

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110
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20200
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120
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1200
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1100

The interactive graph determines the total power and the optimum finger spacing. Click on the graph for numerical data.