A three dimensional design approach for a-Si:H multijunction solar cells

Author

Al-kaisi, Maan M. ; Sadik, Amien Z.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Univ. of Technol., Baghdad, Iraq

fYear

1990

fDate

21-25 May 1990

Firstpage

1426

Abstract

A design criterion for the determination of both the optimum thickness and bandgaps of multijunction a-Si:H solar cells for obtaining the highest conversion efficiency for a given spectral irradiance is described. A three-dimensional diagram is plotted that correlates the above-mentioned design parameters, indicating the best optical matching among the different layers. It can be adapted to study the sensitivity of the multijunction cell to the variations of spectral irradiance. The plot can be used to visualize the variation of the conversion efficiency as a function of both i-layer bandgaps, which can give information on the rate of change of the conversion efficiency as a function of the bandgaps of materials and their thicknesses for a particular irradiance spectrum. The calculated maximum theoretical efficiency under AM1 conditions for a two-layer cell is found to be 20%

Keywords

amorphous semiconductors; elemental semiconductors; hydrogen; silicon; solar cells; 3D design approach; amorphous Si:H solar cells; bandgaps; conversion efficiency; multijunction solar cells; optimum thickness; semiconductor; sensitivity; spectral irradiance; Design methodology; Nonhomogeneous media; Optical design; Optical filters; Optical sensors; PIN photodiodes; Photoconductivity; Photonic band gap; Photovoltaic cells; Short circuit currents;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1990., Conference Record of the Twenty First IEEE

Conference_Location

Kissimmee, FL

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.1990.111845

Filename

111845