Numerical analysis and optimal design of efficient Si/SiC thin-film solar cells

In general, the efficiency of the single-junction solar cell depends upon various design parameters such as material type, thickness of layers, doping concentrations, texturing type and thickness of the anti-reflective coating. Typically, the performance of solar cells is determined by using a one-dimensional solar cell simulation software such as PC1D. Keeping external parameters constant (one-sun, AM1.5G solar radiation, and 0.1 w/cm² intensity), numerical simulation and analysis of a crystalline silicon, microcrystalline silicon and amorphous silicon carbide thin-film solar cell was performed using layer by layer optimization techniques. Our results show a significant enhancement in conversion efficiency of 20.82% for an absorber layer thickness of approximately 20μm and a buffer layer thickness of approximately 5μm. A noticeable improvement to the I/V characteristic curve was also observed. As our main objective, we propose a specific set of parameters to increase the efficiency of the single-junction solar cell with a novel buffer layer thickness.