渐变带隙氢化非晶硅锗薄膜太阳能电池的优化设计

利用一维微电子-光电子结构分析软件(AMPS-1D)在AM1.5G(100 mW/cm2)、室温条件下模拟和比较了有、无渐变带隙氢化非晶硅锗(a-SiGe:H)薄膜太阳能电池的各项性能.计算结果表明:渐变带隙结构电池具有较高的开路电压(V oc)和较好的填充因子(FF),转换效率(E ff)比非渐变带隙电池提高了0.477%.研究了氢化非晶硅(a-Si:H)、氢化非晶碳化硅(a-SiC:H)和氢化纳米晶硅(nc-Si:H)三种不同材料的窗口层对a-SiGe:H薄膜太阳能电池性能的影响.结果显示:在以nc-Si:H为窗口层的电池能带中,费米能级E F已经进入价带,使得窗口层电导率及电池开路电压有所提高,又由于ITO与p-nc-Si:H的接触势垒较低,使得接触处的电场降低,更有利于载流子的收集.另一方面,窗口层与a-SiGe:H薄膜之间存在较大的带隙差,在p/i界面由于能带补偿作用形成了价带势垒(带阶)?E v,阻碍了空穴的迁移,因此我们在p/i界面引入缓冲层,使得能带补偿作用得到释放,更有利于空穴的迁移和收集,得到优化后单结渐变带隙a-SiGe:H薄膜结构太阳能电池的转换效率达到了9.104%.

Optimization design of hydrogenated amorphous silicon germanium thin film solar cell with graded band gap profile

The simulation program AMPS-1D (analysis of microelectronic and photonic structures) employed to simulate and compare the performances of hydrogenated amorphous silicon germanium (a-SiGe:H) thin film solar cell with and without band gap grading at a radiation of AM1.5G (100 mW/cm²) and room temperature by introducing energy band engineering. The simulation results show that the efficiency of the solar cell with band gap grading is 0.477% higher than that without band gap grading due to the higher open circuit voltage (V_oc) and better fill factor (FF). Subsequently, a-SiGe:H thin film solar cells with three different window layers such as hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H), hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC:H) and hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) are simulated, respectively. The numeric calculation results indicate that the fermi level E_F of the a-SiGe:H thin film solar cell crosses the valence band when nc-Si:H window layer is employed in the simulation. This will improve the conductivity and the open circuit voltage of the solar cell. In addition, the electric field at front contact interface is reduced due to the lower contact barrier height. This may be more beneficial to the carrier collection by front contact. On the other hand, thanks to the wider band-gap difference between the window layer and the intrinsic layer, a potential barrier is built at the valence-band p/i interface due to the band offset. This will hinder the hole migration and collection. Thus, an nc-Si:H buffer layer, which can relax the valence-band offset and be more beneficial to the carrier migration and collection, is introduced at p/i interface. Finally, the optimum conversion efficiency of the a-SiGe:H thin film solar cell with graded band gap is achieved to be 9.104%.