PV Optics: a software package for solar cell and module design

PV Optics is a user-friendly software package developed to design and analyze solar cells and modules. It is applicable to a variety of optical structures, including thin and thick cells with light-trapping structures and metal optics. Using a combination of wave and ray optics to include effects of coherence and interference, it can be used to design single-junction and multijunction solar cells and modules. This paper describes some basic applications of PV Optics for crystalline and amorphous Si solar cell design. We present examples to examine the effects on solar cell performance of wafer thickness, antireflection coating thickness, texture height, and metal loss.