Effect of defects on the efficiency of a-SiC:H p-i-n based solar cells

In amorphous hydrogenated silicon carbide (a-SiC:H) based p-i-n type solar cells, the device performance is limited by various factors. Most important of which is defects in the i-layer and particularly in the p/i interface. We performed I-V measurements on amorphous solar cells in the structure p(a-SiC H)/i(a-SiC:H)/n(a-Si:H) at AM1.5. All parameters are determined such as efficiency and filling factor. In the dark, the static and dynamic parameters of diode are deduced. Defects in the intrinsic layer are evaluated by photothermal deflexion spectroscopy technique. All the measured parameters are used by the solar cell capacitance simulator (SCAPS 3.2). The structure of solar cells and the experimental conditions were introduced in simulator. The experimental I-V and spectral response characteristics were correlated to the simulated ones. The simulation shows that increase in defects density, reduces the electrical parameters of amorphous solar cells. The effect of the gap value is more important to define the efficiency of the solar cell made by a-SiC:H materials.