Modeling of Si-based solar cells with V-grooved surface texture by Crosslight APSYS

Abstract

Based on Crosslight APSYS, two-dimensional simulations have been performed on Si-based solar cell devices especially those with V-grooved surface texture. These Si-based solar cells include rear-contacted cells and passivated emitter, rear totally diffused cells etc. The APSYS simulator is based on drift-diffusion theory with many advanced features. It can enable an efficient computation across the whole solar spectra by taking into account the effects of multiple layer optical interference and photon generation. The integrated ray-tracing module can compute optical absorption through the complex texture surface with multiple antireflection coating layers. Basic physical quantities like band diagram, optical absorption and generation can be demonstrated. The I-V characteristics with short-circuit current density and open-circuit voltage agree with the published experimental results and enhanced cell efficiency is shown with the V-grooved texture. The results are analyzed with respect to surface recombination, antireflection coating, bulk doping/resistivity and lifetime etc. Modeling capabilities for polycrystalline silicon and amorphous silicon cells are also discussed.