Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) based solar cell: Material characterization and optimization

We present first-principles finite temperature molecular dynamics (MD) results of extensively simulated hydrogen bonding and diffusion inside an hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) network. The motivation comes from the necessity of fabricating and characterizing a-Si:H films for solar cells applications grown for an OCE/CMM sponsored project: the “Sonus PV Photovoltaic Highway Traffic Noise Barrier”. The main goal of the project is to achieve the integration of fiberglass noise reduction barriers with solar cells by optimizing the films and p-i-n junction parameters and the solar cell design/geometry (top contact grid parameters, in particular) for maximum performance.