cell 102 in some implementations the diode 124 is a semiconductor device such as a schottky bypass diode or an epitaxially grown p n junction for purposes of illustration the bypass diode 124 is a schottky bypass diode external connection terminals 125 and 127 are provided for connecting the solar cell 102 and the diode 124 to other devices e g adjacent solar cell receivers not shown the functionality of the bypass diode 124 can be appreciated by considering multiple solar cells 102 connected in series each solar cell 102 can be envisioned as a battery with the cathode of each of the diodes 124 being connected to the positive terminal of the associated u201c battery u201d and the anode of each of the diodes 124 being connected to the negative terminal of the associated u201c battery u201d when one of the serially connected solar cell receivers 100 becomes damaged or shadowed its voltage output is reduced or eliminated e g to below a threshold voltage associated with the diode 124 therefore the associated diode 124 becomes forward biased and a bypass current flows only through that diode 124 and not the solar cell 102 in this manner the non damaged or non shadowed solar cell receivers 100 continue to generate electricity from the solar energy received by those solar cells if not for the bypass diode 124 substantially all of the electricity produced by the other solar cell receivers would pass through the shadowed or damaged solar cell receiver destroying it and creating an open circuit within e g the.