The role of boron profiling in enhancing the performance of amorphous silicon-based alloy p-i-n solar cells

Abstract

We have carried out a theoretical investigation of the effect of boron profiling on the performance of amorphous silicon-based alloy p-i-n solar cells. We show that the improvement in carrier collection is primarily caused by a rearrangement of the electric field distribution within the cell as well as by a relatively less important increase in the hole lifetime. It is also shown that boron profiling can increase the open-circuit voltage of devices with low built-in potentials.