Comparative simulation analysis of μc Si:H and SnS BSF layers in CIGS solar cells

Abstract

In this paper, we presented Cu(In1-xGax)Se2 (CIGS) based solar cells in which hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (μc Si:H) and tin sulfide (SnS) are used as back surface field (BSF) layers. In CIGS thin film solar cell technology, thickness serves a crucial factor. Optimizing absorber thickness reduces the usage of scarce and expensive materials such as indium (In) and gallium (Ga) in CIGS cells. Integrating a heavily doped layer between the absorber and the back surface, known as the back surface field (BSF) layer, in solar cell design is a successful strategy for minimizing the thickness of the absorber layer. The suggested configuration utilizes μc-Si:H and SnS as the back surface field (BSF) layer. The buffer layer in this configuration employs less harmful InP instead of the typically utilized CdS layer. All the simulation work is performed using SCAP-1D simulation tool. The utilization of μc Si:H and SnS BSF layers yields optimized efficiencies of 31.51% and 31.01%, respectively. This simulation work demonstrates that use of a proper BSF layer is very effective not only in performance enhancement but also in reducing absorber material thickness.