Modelling and performance analysis of amorphous silicon solar cell using wide band gap nc-Si:H window layer
- Author(s): Haris Mehmood 1 and Tauseef Tauqeer 2
-
-
View affiliations
-
Affiliations:
1:
National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) , Islamabad , Pakistan ;
2: Information Technology University (ITU) , Lahore , Pakistan
-
Affiliations:
1:
National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) , Islamabad , Pakistan ;
- Source:
Volume 11, Issue 6,
November
2017,
p.
666 – 675
DOI: 10.1049/iet-cds.2017.0072 , Print ISSN 1751-858X, Online ISSN 1751-8598
Poor charge transport mechanism and light-induced degradation effects are among the key factors leading to the degraded performance of single-junction amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cells. Existent photovoltaic configurations, based on amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC:H) window layer, have established efficiencies in the range of 7–10%. Limited performance of such devices has been addressed by replacing a-SiC:H with a wide band gap (∼2 eV) hydrogenated nano-crystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) layer that reportedly exhibits crystalline properties at small scale. Here, the proposed solar cell based on p-nc-Si:H/i-a-Si:H (buffer)/i-a-Si:H/n-a-Si:H configuration has been simulated with SILVACO TCAD by analysing window and intrinsic absorber layers thickness, as well as doping concentrations. Along with the engineering of p/i interface, in-depth evaluation of absorber defects parameters has also been undertaken in order to reduce the recombination rate. The simulated results of an optimised single-junction device demonstrated an open-circuit voltage (VOC) of 0.865 V, short-circuit current density (JSC) of 21.7 mA/cm2, Fill factor (FF) of 0.69 and power conversion efficiency of 12.93%, which is promising when compared with the solar cell already reported. The proposed structure will provide the platform for further development of low cost and efficient multijunction thin-film amorphous solar cell technology.
Inspec keywords: silicon; short-circuit currents; solar cells; technology CAD (electronics); current density; elemental semiconductors
Other keywords: wavelength-dependent dispersion data extraction; photovoltaic configuration; amorphous silicon solar cell structure; multijunction thin-film amorphous solar cell technology; charge transport mechanism; short-circuit current density; amorphous silicon carbide; doping concentrations; single-junction thin-film hydrogenated amorphous silicon solar cell; wide band gap nc-Si:H window layer; efficiency 12.93 percent; SILVACO TCAD; efficiency 7 percent to 10 percent; open-circuit voltage; intrinsic absorber layers thickness; voltage 0.865 V; optimised single-junction device; nc-Si:H material; Si; light-induced degradation effect; hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon material
Subjects: Photoelectric conversion; solar cells and arrays; Solar cells and arrays
References
-
-
1)
-
5. Fritzsche, H.: ‘Development in understanding and controlling the Staebler-Wronski effect in a-Si:H’, Annu. Rev. Mater. Res., 2001, 31, (1), pp. 47–79.
-
-
2)
-
29. Dutta, U., Chatterjee, P.: ‘The open circuit voltage in amorphous silicon p-i-n solar cells and its relationship to material, device and dark diode parameters’, J. Appl. Phys., 2004, 96, (4), pp. 2261–2271.
-
-
3)
-
2. Chopra, K.L., Paulson, P.D., Dutta, V.: ‘Thin-film solar cells: an overview’, Prog. Photovoltaics Res. Appl., 2004, 12, (2–3), pp. 69–92.
-
-
4)
-
12. Gudovskikh, A.S., Abramov, A.S., Bobyl, A.V., et al: ‘Study of the properties of solar cells based on a-Si:H p-i-n structures by admittance spectroscopy’, Semiconductors, 2013, 47, (8), pp. 1090–1096.
-
-
5)
-
4. Stradins, P.: ‘Staebler-Wronski defects: creation efficiency, stability, and effect on a-Si:H solar cell degradation’. 35th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conf. (PVSC), Honolulu, HI, USA, 2010, pp. 142–145.
-
-
6)
-
3. Fraunhofer I.S.E.: ‘Photovoltaics report 2016’ (Fraunhofer I.S.E., 2016).
-
-
7)
-
38. Luo, R., Liu, B., Yang, X., et al: ‘The large-area CdTe thin film for CdS/CdTe solar cell prepared by physical vapor deposition in medium pressure’, Appl. Surf. Sci., 2016, 360, pp. 744–748.
-
-
8)
-
27. Green, M.A.: ‘Self-consistent optical parameters of intrinsic silicon at 300 K including temperature coefficients’, Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells, 2008, 92, (11), pp. 1305–1310.
-
-
9)
-
30. Dosev, D., Iniguez, B., Marsal, L.F., et al: ‘Device simulations of nanocrystalline silicon thin-film transistors’, Solid. State. Electron., 2003, 47, (11), pp. 1917–1920.
-
-
10)
-
32. Farhan, M.S., Zalnezhad, E., Bushroa, A.R., et al: ‘Electrical and optical properties of indium-tin oxide (ITO) films by ion-assisted deposition (IAD) at room temperature’, Int. J. Precis. Eng. Manuf., 2013, 14, (8), pp. 1465–1469.
-
-
11)
-
16. Yuan, Y., Zhang, K., Wei, Z., et al: ‘Influence of p-layer on the performance of n-i-p μc-Si:H thin film solar cells’, Sci. China Phys. Mech. Astron., 2010, 53, (11), pp. 2042–2046.
-
-
12)
-
42. Kim, I., Haverinen, H.M., Li, J., et al: ‘Enhanced power conversion efficiency of p-i-n type organic solar cells by employing a p-layer of palladium phthalocyanine’, Appl. Phys. Lett., 2010, 97, (20), p. 203301.
-
-
13)
-
31. Caughey, D.M., Thomas, R.E.: ‘Carrier mobilities in silicon empirically related to doping and field’, Proc. IEEE, 1967, 55, (12), pp. 2192–2193.
-
-
14)
-
40. Lin, Y.-P., Hsieh, T.-E., Chen, Y.-C., et al: ‘Characteristics of Cu2ZnSn(SxSe1−x)4 thin-film solar cells prepared by sputtering deposition using single quaternary Cu2ZnSnS4 target followed by selenization/sulfurization treatment’, Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells, 2017, 162, pp. 55–61.
-
-
15)
-
24. Lenka, T.R.: ‘Effect of thin gate dielectrics on DC, radio frequency and linearity characteristics of lattice-matched AlInN/AlN/GaN metal–oxide–semiconductor high electron mobility transistor’, IET Circuits Devices Syst., 2016, 10, (5), pp. 423–432(9).
-
-
16)
-
43. Zi, W., Ren, X., Ren, X., et al: ‘Perovskite/germanium tandem: a potential high efficiency thin film solar cell design’, Opt. Commun., 2016, 380, pp. 1–5.
-
-
17)
-
39. Türck, J., Siol, S., Mayer, T., et al: ‘Cu2s as ohmic back contact for CdTe solar cells’, Thin Solid Films, 2015, 582, pp. 336–339.
-
-
18)
-
1. Taguchi, M., Yano, A., Tohoda, S., et al: ‘24.7% record efficiency HIT solar cell on thin silicon wafer’, IEEE J. Photovoltaics, 2014, 4, (1), pp. 96–99.
-
-
19)
-
33. Vet, B., Zeman, M.: ‘Comparison of a-SiC:H and a-SiN:H as candidate materials for a p-i interface layer in a-Si:H p-i-n solar cells’, Energy Procedia, 2010, 2, (1), pp. 227–234.
-
-
20)
-
41. Sai, H., Matsui, T., Matsubara, K., et al: ‘11.0%-efficient thin-film microcrystalline silicon solar cells with honeycomb textured substrates’, IEEE J. Photovoltaics, 2014, 4, (6), pp. 1349–1353.
-
-
21)
-
23. Filonovich, S.A., Alpuim, P., Rebouta, L., et al: ‘Hydrogenated amorphous and nanocrystalline silicon solar cells deposited by HWCVD and RF-PECVD on plastic substrates at 150°C’, J. Non. Cryst. Solids, 2008, 354, (19–25), pp. 2376–2380.
-
-
22)
-
6. Matsui, T., Bidiville, A., Maejima, K., et al: ‘High-efficiency amorphous silicon solar cells: impact of deposition rate on metastability’, Appl. Phys. Lett., 2015, 106, (5), p. 53901.
-
-
23)
-
37. Al-Thani, H.A., Al-Shaibani, S.A., Al-Jaeedi, A.M., et al: ‘Recent progress of CIGS thin film R&D at NEWRC’. 43rd IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conf. (PVSC), Portland, OR, USA, 2016, pp. 1408–1411.
-
-
24)
-
28. Omer, B.M., Mohammed, F.A., Mahgoub, A.S.A.: ‘Simulation study on the open-circuit voltage of amorphous silicon p-i-n solar cells using AMPS-1D’, J. Nano Electron. Phys., 2014, 6, (1).
-
-
25)
-
18. Tao, K., Zhang, D., Sun, Y., et al: ‘Boron doped hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon thin films prepared by layer-by-layer technique and its application in n-i-p flexible amorphous silicon thin film solar cells’. 4th IEEE Int. Conf. on Nano/Micro Engineered and Molecular Systems NEMS, 2009, pp. 327–330.
-
-
26)
-
36. Munyeme, G., Zeman, M., Schropp, R.E.I., et al: ‘Performance analysis of a-Si:H p–i–n solar cells with and without a buffer layer at the p/i interface’, Phys. Status Solidi, 2004, 1, (9), pp. 2298–2303.
-
-
27)
-
14. Kabir, M.I., Shahahmadi, S.A., Lim, V., et al: ‘Amorphous silicon single-junction thin-film solar cell exceeding 10% efficiency by design optimization’, Int. J. Photoenergy, 2012, 2012, p. 7.
-
-
28)
-
15. Zhang, Y., Yu, C., Yang, M., et al: ‘Optimization of the window layer in large area silicon heterojunction solar cells’, RSC Adv., 2017, 7, (15), pp. 9258–9263.
-
-
29)
-
25. Suria, B.S.N.F.M., Hussain, S., Mehmood, H., et al: ‘Nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si: H) and amorphous silicon (a-Si: H) based thin-film multijunction solar cell’, Sains Malaysiana, 2014, 43, (6), pp. 895–898.
-
-
30)
-
13. Yunaz, I.A., Nagashima, H., Hamashita, D., et al: ‘Wide-gap a-Si1−xCx:H solar cells with high light-induced stability for multijunction structure applications’, Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells, 2011, 95, (1), pp. 107–110.
-
-
31)
-
21. Fathi, E., Vygranenko, Y., Vieira, M., et al: ‘Boron-doped nanocrystalline silicon thin films for solar cells’, Appl. Surf. Sci., 2011, 257, (21), pp. 8901–8905.
-
-
32)
-
19. Li, Z., Zhang, X., Han, G.: ‘Electrical and optical properties of boron-doped nanocrystalline silicon films deposited by PECVD’, Phys. Status Solidi, 2010, 207, (1), pp. 144–148.
-
-
33)
-
35. Singh, C.B., Bhattacharya, S., Ahmed, N., et al: ‘Effect of boron doping on optical and electrical properties of p-type a-Si:H films for thin film solar cells application’. 1st Int. Conf. on Non Conventional Energy (ICONCE), Kalyani, India, 2014, pp. 38–42.
-
-
34)
-
20. Hu, Z., Liao, X., Diao, H., et al: ‘Hydrogenated p-type nanocrystalline silicon in amorphous silicon solar cells’, J. Non. Cryst. Solids, 2006, 352, (9–20), pp. 1900–1903.
-
-
35)
-
17. Filonovich, S.A., Águas, H., Bernacka-Wojcik, I., et al: ‘Highly conductive p-type nanocrystalline silicon films deposited by RF-PECVD using silane and trimethylboron mixtures at high pressure’, Vacuum, 2009, 83, (10), pp. 1253–1256.
-
-
36)
-
11. Vet, B., Zeman, M.: ‘Sensitivity study of model parameters for high-efficient amorphous-silicon solar cells’. Proc. 9th STW Annual Workshop on Semiconductor Advances for Future Electronics and Sensors, 2006, pp. 453–457.
-
-
37)
-
10. Banerjee, A., Liu, F.S., Beglau, D., et al: ‘12% efficiency on large-area, encapsulated, multijunction nc-Si:H-based solar cells’, IEEE J. Photovoltaics, 2012, 2, pp. 104–108.
-
-
38)
-
7. Soderstrom, T.: ‘Single and multi-junction thin film silicon solar cells for flexible photovoltaics’. PhD thesis, Universite de Neuchatel, 2009.
-
-
39)
-
8. Il Park, S., Jae Baik, S., Im, J.-S., et al: ‘Towards a high efficiency amorphous silicon solar cell using molybdenum oxide as a window layer instead of conventional p-type amorphous silicon carbide’, Appl. Phys. Lett., 2011, 99, (6), p. 63504.
-
-
40)
-
9. Banerjee, A., Su, T., Beglau, D., et al: ‘High-efficiency, multijunction nc-Si:H-based solar cells at high deposition rate’, IEEE J. Photovoltaics, 2012, 2, pp. 99–103.
-
-
41)
-
22. Lee, C.-H., Sazonov, A., Nathan, A.: ‘High-mobility nanocrystalline silicon thin-film transistors fabricated by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition’, Appl. Phys. Lett., 2005, 86, (22), p. 222106.
-
-
42)
-
26. Suntharalingam, V., Fortmann, C.M., Fonash, S.J., et al: ‘The p/i interface layer in amorphous silicon solar cells: a numerical modeling study’. Proc. 1994 IEEE 1st World Conf. on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion – WCPEC (A Joint Conf. of PVSC, PVSEC and PSEC), Waikoloa, HI, USA, 1994, vol. 1, pp. 618–621.
-
-
43)
-
34. Nawaz, M.: ‘Computer analysis of thin-film amorphous silicon heterojunction solar cells’, J. Phys. D – Appl. Phys., 2011, 44, (14).
-
-
1)