Analysis of external quantum efficiency and conversion efficiency of thin crystalline silicon solar cells with textured front surface

Abstract

The present study aims to develop a simple analytical model that simulates the effect of the front surface texturization on thin crystalline silicon solar cells performance. It provides an analytical solution to the complete set of equations needed to determine the effect of the texturization on the performance of an $$\hbox {n}^{++}/ \hbox {n}^{+}/\hbox {p}$$n++/n+/p solar cell. The increase in external quantum efficiency (EQE), enhancement of conversion efficiency, contributions of the different cell regions to EQE, and effects of the physical parameters of each region were simulated and evaluated in comparison with $$\hbox {n}^{++}/ \hbox {n}^{+}/\hbox {p}$$n++/n+/p flat solar cells. Overall, the findings reveal that, for the same physical parameters of the different regions of the solar cells, the textured cells have better EQE and better conversion efficiency than the flat ones. The cell conversion efficiency can be improved by up to 0.83 %. This enhancement can be attributed to the decrease of the front surface reflectance for short-wavelength range and the increase of the light path for long-wavelength range.