Structure thickness analysis of silicon solar cell using silvaco simulator: article / Mohd Fairuz Aiman Mohamad Zamjury

Solar cells made from semiconductor materials such as silicon and gallium arsenic. Both materials can produce higher efficiency than other semiconductor materials. The main parameters in solar cell technology are the contact to the cell, the p+ layer, n+ layer and the use of anti-reflective coating (AR coating), which are of capital importance in the improvement of the efficiency of semiconductor solar cells. The focus was given more on the single junction silicon solar cells. Silvaco simulator was introduced for designing and simulating the solar cell. Silvaco Athena tool was used to develop the solar cell structure and Silvaco Atlas tool was used to extract the electrical characteristic of the solar cell. Several samples were created and the effects of the each solar cell were analyzed. By varying the solar cell thickness, the thinner solar cell gives better efficiency because of the reduction of photogeneration rate in deeper area. The rate of carrier generation will be the highest near the incident surface and will decrease exponentially with the distance deeper into the semiconductor.