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Numerical study of high-efficiency CIGS solar cells by inserting a BSF µc-Si:H layer

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Abstract

In this paper, we present a simulation study of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) based solar cell using a physically based two-dimensional device simulator Silvaco-Atlas under AM1.5 illumination. First, we studied the effect of CIGS layer thickness, doping concentrations, and defects on the J–V properties and the quantum efficiency (QE) of a conventional cell. The simulated structure shows an open circuit voltage equal to 0.80 V, a short circuit current density equal to 30.03 mA/cm2, a fill factor equal to 82.77% and the obtained efficiency of the conventional cell is 19.80% with CIGS absorber layer thickness of about 1.5 μm, our simulation results of the CIGS solar cell are in good agreement with the simulated and experimental results found in literature. In order to improve the solar cells efficiency, the back surface field (BSF) based on hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon μc-Si:H(p+) layer has been inserted between the back contact (Mo) and the CIGS absorber layer, in this case the structure presents an open voltage equal to 0.84 V, a short circuit current density equal to 32.55 mA/cm2, a fill factor equal to 85.31% and an efficiency of 23.42%. The obtained results demonstrate that the addition of μc-Si:H(p+) BSF layer increases the efficiency of CIGS solar cells, reaching a maximum value of 23.42% for 1.5 μm of CIGS thickness and 10 nm for μc-Si:H(p+) BSF layer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Electronics Department, Faculty of Technology, University of Msila, 28000, City of Msila, Algeria

    Rafik Zouache & Idris Bouchama

  2. Research Unit on Emerging Materials (RUEM), University of Ferhat Abbas, Setif1, City of Sétif, Algeria

    Idris Bouchama

  3. Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Biskra, City of Biskra, Algeria

    Okba Saidani

  4. Faculty of Technology, University of Saad Dahlab Blida.1, City of Blida, Algeria

    Layachi Djedoui

  5. Polytechnic Military School, Bordj El-Bahri, City of Algiers, Algeria

    Elyazid Zaidi

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  1. Rafik Zouache
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Contributions

RZ: Writing—original draft, Validation, Formal analysis, Software, Writing—review & editing, Resources. IB: Investigation, Supervision, Visualization, Writing—original draft, Software. OS: Formal analysis, Software, Validation, Writing—review & editing. LD: Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing. EZ: Writing—original draft.

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Correspondence to Rafik Zouache.

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Zouache, R., Bouchama, I., Saidani, O. et al. Numerical study of high-efficiency CIGS solar cells by inserting a BSF µc-Si:H layer. J Comput Electron 21, 1386–1395 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10825-022-01942-5

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