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Simulation and fabrication of a-Si:H thin-film solar cells: a comparative study of simulation and experimental results

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Abstract

Both simulation and experimental studies on single-junction hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin-film solar cells are done. Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin-film solar cells with n-i-p structure are simulated using AFORS-HET (Automated For Simulation of Heterostructure) software and fabricated using radio-frequency plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (RF-PECVD) (13.56 MHz) multi-chamber system at a low temperature of 180 °C. The effect of emitter layer (a-Si:H (p)) doping and absorber layer (a-Si:H (i)) thickness is studied. Further, simulation results are compared with the experimental results. To map the diborane (B2H6) flow rate in the experiment to corresponding doping concentration in simulation, the diborane (B2H6) flow rate is varied from 8 to 14 sccm, and emitter layer doping from 7.2\(\times\)1019 to 8.4\(\times\)1019 cm−3. It is observed that solar cell parameters \({J}_{sc}\), \({V}_{oc}\) corresponding the doping concentration 7.6\(\times\)1019 cm−3 in simulation matches quite well when diborane (B2H6) flow rate is 10 sccm in the experiment. The solar cell’s efficiency is also found to be within error bars with values of 5.79% for simulation and 5.50% for experiment. Using these doping concentrations and B2H6 flow rate subsequently, the absorber layer thickness is varied from 200 to 350 nm to further optimize the device thickness to improve the efficiency. The simulation results indicate that increasing the thickness leads to improved \({J}_{sc}\) and overall performance of the solar cell. A similar trend is observed from the experimentally fabricated devices with the same variation, which shows a good match between simulation and experiment.

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Acknowledgements

The PECVD multi-chamber system used for fabrication of solar cells is built by the fund received from DST (Grant No. DST/TM/SERI/2K11/78(G)) and DRDO (Grant No. ERIP/ER/0900376/M/01/1297) New Delhi, India. We also acknowledge Helmholtz–Zentrum Berlin (HZB) for providing free AFORS-HET software for simulation. M.S. Gangwar would like to thank University Grant Commission (UGC), India, for providing financial support under the NET-JRF scheme.

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The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam, 781039, India

    Manvendra Singh Gangwar & Pratima Agarwal

  2. School of Energy Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam, 781039, India

    Pratima Agarwal

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  1. Manvendra Singh Gangwar
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Contributions

MSG: Conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, and investigation, Writing: Original draft preparation.  PA : Conceptualization, validation, supervision, Writing: Reviewing and Editing.

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Correspondence to Pratima Agarwal.

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Gangwar, M.S., Agarwal, P. Simulation and fabrication of a-Si:H thin-film solar cells: a comparative study of simulation and experimental results. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 35, 487 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-024-12149-8

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