Correlation between lifetime curve and performance of amorphous silicon/ crystalline silicon heterostructure solar cell

Detailed balance calculations are prevalently used to calculate the thermodynamic limit of performance of photovoltaic devices. This work combines the detailed balance calculations with the lifetime curve to determine the limiting performance of silicon heterostructure solar cell. The detailed balance model uses the state-of-the-art values for the recombination coefficients. The calculation shows that for an undoped silicon with only intrinsic (radiative and auger) recombination mechanisms considered, the efficiency limit is 29.63 % at 26 μm. However, the value changes with the inclusion of the extrinsic recombination processes that occurs due to the presence of surfaces and defects within crystalline silicon.