Abstract
Single crystal silicon solar cells are still predominant in the market due to the abundance of silicon on earth and their acceptable efficiency. Different solar-cell structures of single crystalline Si have been investigated to boost efficiency; the heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer (HIT) structure is currently the leading technology. The record efficiency values of state-of-the art HIT solar cells have always been based on n-type single-crystalline Si wafers. Improving the efficiency of cells based on p-type single-crystalline Si wafers could provide broader options for the development of HIT solar cells. In this study, we varied the thickness of intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous Si layer to improve the efficiency of HIT solar cells on p-type Si wafers.
Highlights
Solar cells have been in active development for many years as an alternative energy source
The conduction band offset at the front amorphous Si (a-Si)/crystalline silicon (c-Si) interface is small, and almost all electrons can overcome this offset
The valence band offset at the back a-Si/c-Si interface is large, so the back a-Si(i) layer should be thin enough for hole tunneling in order to suppress blocking by the large offset
Summary
Solar cells have been in active development for many years as an alternative energy source. One leading commercialized technology is the high efficiency HIT (heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer) solar cell devised by Sanyo on n-type crystalline silicon (c-Si) wafers [1]. This promising structure has the following advantages: (1) simple structure without the need for complicated fabrication. If the efficiencies based on p-type wafers can be further improved, the topics focusing on p-type wafers should be continuously considered. We varied the thickness of the top intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous Si [a-Si:H(i)] layer to improve the efficiency of HIT solar cells on p-type Si wafers. The enhancement due to the increase of the a-Si:H(i) layer is far more significant when a thinner single crystal Si wafer is used
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