A Numerical Simulation of the Effect of Buffer Layer Band Gap on the Performances of nc-Si : H Based Solar Cells

Authors H. Touati1, B. Amiri2, A.C. Sebbak2, A. Benameur2, H. Aït-kaci2
Affiliations

1 Material Technology Department, Faculty of Physics, Oran University of Sciences and Technology Mohamed Boudiaf USTO-MB, BP1505 Oran, Algeria

2 Laboratory of Plasma Physics, Conductor Materials and their Applications, Faculty of Physics, Oran University of Sciences and Technology Mohamed Boudiaf USTO-MB, BP1505 Oran, Algeria

Е-mail a_belfar@hotmail.com
Issue Volume 8, Year 2016, Number 2
Dates Received 03 February 2016; revised manuscript received 10 June 2016; published online 21 June 2016
Citation H. Touati, B. Amiri, A.C. Sebbak, et al., J. Nano- Electron. Phys. 8 No 2, 02008 (2016)
DOI 10.21272/jnep.8(2).02008
PACS Number(s) 73.40.Lq, 78.20.Bh
Keywords Nanocrystalline silicon (5) , Buffer layer (2) , Band gap (29) , Simulation (35) .
Annotation This paper describes an investigation, by using numerical simulation, into the impacts of i-nc-Si : H buffer layer band gap on the photovoltaic parameters of n-i-p hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si : H) solar cells. The output external cell parameters, like, the short-circuit current (JSC), the open circuit voltage (VOC), the fill factor (FF) and efficiency (Eff) are simulated by varying the mobility band gap (Eg) of i-nc-Si : H buffer layer. Also, the band diagram of nc-Si : H n-i-p solar cell, the electric field and the traped hole density at i/p interface, and the external quantum efficiency, with different values of buffer layer band gap where optimized. The simulation result shows that in valence band and for both interfaces, the band offsets ΔEV1 at p-nc-Si : H (window layer) / i-nc-Si : H (buffer layer) and ΔEV2 at i-nc-Si : H (buffer layer) / i-nc-Si : H (absorber layer) can be affected by varying Eg. It is obtained that the values efficiency are 10.89 % and 11.33 % when the value of i-nc-Si : H buffer layer band gap are 1.4 eV and 1.55 eV, respectively. However, the i-nc-Si : H buffer layer band gap of 1.55 eV was optimized for obtaining a better efficiency for n-i-p solar cell based on hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon.

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