The effect of parasitic resistances on silicon solar cell performance was discussed. The current-voltage I-U characteristics of single crystalline silicon solar cells at different temperatures were measured in the dark. A one and two diodes equivalent model was used to describe the electronic properties of the solar cells. The diode ideality factors, the series and shunt resistance, that determine the fill factor and the efficiency of the solar cell, have been estimated. It was proved that the performance of the tested silicon solar cell can be described with enough accuracy by the one diode equivalent model with series resistance r(s) equal to 0.1Omega and an empirical ideality factor M-id equal to 1.4. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved..