Absorption coefficient of silicon for solar cell calculations

Abstract The optical absorption coefficient is an important parameter in calculating the performance characteristics of solar cells. For silicon solar cells it is desirable to know the absorption coefficient over the range of 1.1–4.0 eV and over a wide range of temperature, particularly when evaluating the concentration type systems. An analytical (empirical) expression has been developed for this purpose. We have interpreted the available experimental data in terms of three bands of silicon. With our fit, the experimental data can be explained to within an accuracy of 20% and its validity extends from 1.1 to 4.0 eV and over the temperature range of 20–500°K.