Issue Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. Volume 46, Number 2, May 2009 Article Number 20302 Number of page(s) 6 Section Semiconductors and Devices DOI 10.1051/epjap/2009044 Published online 27 March 2009

Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. 46, 20302 (2009)
DOI: 10.1051/epjap/2009044

Analysis of poly-Si thin film p⁺-n-n⁺ homojunction solar cell and heterojunction solar cell with and without a thin c-Si layer at the interface of a-Si and poly-Si layers

A.J. Letha and H.L. Hwang

Institute of Electronics Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, No. 101, Section 2, Kuang-Fu Road, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan, Republic of China

ajletha@hotmail.com

Received: 2 December 2008 / Received in final form: 15 January 2009 / Accepted: 28 January 2009 / Published online: 27 March 2009

Abstract
In this study, new possibilities for higher efficiency poly-Si thin film solar cells are investigated using MEDICI device simulator. The poly-Si p⁺-n-n⁺ thin film solar cell with a thin a-Si p⁺ layer is found to have higher efficiency than the homojunction p⁺-n-n⁺ cell. Further improvement in efficiency of the heterojunction p⁺-n-n⁺ cell is achieved by introducing a thin c-Si layer at the interface of a-Si emitter and poly-Si absorber layers. The c-Si layer at the interface is found to reduce the recombination losses at the interface and improved the fill factor and efficiency of the cell. The photovoltaic parameters of the cell and the absorber layer thickness for optimum efficiency are highly influenced by grain size and passivation at the grain boundary.

PACS
78.30.Fs - III-V and II-VI semiconductors.
78.55.Cr - III-V semiconductors.
85.30.De - Semiconductor-device characterization, design, and modeling.

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