| This dissertation presents a phenomenological approach for analysis of electrical non-uniformities caused by crystallographic defects and impurities in a large area device like a solar cell. A procedure is developed to determine the parameters of a microscopic model that is used to calculate the local effects of electrical non-uniformities on the dark and the illuminated I-V characteristics of a p-n junction devices. A statistical approach is then used to simulate the I-V characteristics of a small area device. The small area device is assumed to be electrically uniformed. Finally, these results are applied to developed a network model to determine the terminal characteristics of a large-area solar cell. |
