AN3432 Datasheet - STMicroelectronics

Introduction
Today, the main technologies used in solar panel are polycrystalline and mono crystalline silicon solar cells. When one solar cell of the panel is shaded while the others are illuminated, a hot spot could appear and leads to the shaded cell destruction. The bypass diode is an efficient solution to eliminate the “hot spot” and maintain the current delivery. The Schottky diode is a cost effective candidate. Its VRRM, VF/IR trade off need to fit the panel and junction box characteristics.

This document gives a method to select the most appropriate diode versus the panel characteristics.