Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

An Enhanced Conversion Efficiency of Metal Insulator Semiconductor Solar Cells by Using Different High-K Dielectrics

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Silicon Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this paper, the role of different high-k materials in enhancing the efficiency of a metal insulator semiconductor (MIS) solar cell is investigated in detail. In order to overcome the traditional SiO2 disadvantages, alternative dielectrics, namely TiO2, Si3N4, and Ta2O5, with a thickness of 10 Å are used. Furthermore, the effect of the interface states density, doping density, and oxide fixed charge on the electrical outputs of the proposed MIS solar cell is assessed. The simulation results indicate that Ta2O5 could be a good candidate to replace SiO2. The optimized design of a 250-μm-thick cell structure, with a p-type substrate with a doping density of 7 × 1015 cm−3 and a Ta2O5layeras dielectric, performs a short circuit currentdensity JSC = 44.35 mA/cm2, an open circuit voltage VOC = 0.59 V,a fill factor FF = 81.19%, and a conversion efficiency η = 21.54%. Besides, to get a broad perspective on the device optimization possibility, an investigation on a suitable metal work function is also carried out in this study. In particular, a metal electrode with a low work function could efficiently improve the device VOC value.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Shewchun J, Singh R, Green MA (1977). J Appl Phys 48(2):765–770

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Abdolhay A, Royaniyan S, Nezhad ZT (2014). Appl Math Eng Management Tech 2(6):348–352

    Google Scholar 

  3. Vexlera MI, Tyaginova SE, Yu B, Illarionova Y, Singd YK, Shenp AD, Fedorova VV, Isakov DV (2013). Physics Of Semiconductor devices 47(5):686–694

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Chang TY, Chang CL, Lee HY, Lee PT (2010). IEEE electron device letters 31(12):1419–1421

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Yousfi A, Bencherif H, Dehimi L, Pezzimenti F, Saidi L, Abdi MA, Khezzar D (2019) In 2019 1st international conference on sustainable renewable energy systems and applications (ICSRESA) IEEE, pp 1–4

    Book  Google Scholar 

  6. Robertson J, Wallace RM (2015) High-K materials and metal gates for CMOS applications. Mater Sci Eng 88:1–41

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Bencherif H, Dehimi L, Pezzimenti F, Della Corte FG (2019) Improving the efficiency of a-Si:H/c-Si thin heterojunction solar cells by using both antireflection coating engineering and diffraction grating. Optik 182:682–693

  8. Islam R, Saraswat KC (2014) In 2014 IEEE 40th photovoltaic specialist conference (PVSC)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Wilk GD, Wallace RM, Anthony JM (2001) High-κ gate dielectrics: current status and materials properties considerations. Appl Phys Rev 89(10):5243–5275

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Lennie A, Abdullah H, Shaari S, Sopian K (2009) Fabrication of single layer SiO2 and Si3N4 as antireflection coating on silicon solar cell using Silvaco software. Am J Appl Sci 6(12):2043–2049

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Bencherif H, Dehimi HL, Messina G, Vincent P, Pezzimenti F, Della Corte, FG (2020). An optimized Graphene/4H-SiC/Graphene MSM UV-photodetector operating in a wide range of temperature. Sensor Actuat A-Phys 307:112007

  12. Petrosyants KO, Popov DA (2015) 2nd international conference on modeling, identification and control, Atlantis press

    Google Scholar 

  13. Bencherif H, Pezzimenti F, Dehimi L, Della Corte FG (2020). Applied Physics A 126(11):1–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Choi JH, Mao Y, Chang JP (2011) Development of hafnium based high-k materials—a review. Materials Science and Engineering: R: Reports 72(6):97–136

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Robertson J, Wallace RM (2015) High-K materials and metal gates for CMOS applications. Materials Science and Engineering: R: Reports 88:1–41

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Schorner R, Hezel R (1981) High efficiency inversion layer solar cells on polycrystalline silicon by the application of silicon nitride. IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices 28(12):1466–1469

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Fandi O, Hidayat R, Utama RI (2020). Journal of Physics: Conference Series IOP Publishing 1481:1

    Google Scholar 

  18. X. Yang, Q. Bi, H. Ali, K. Davis, W. V. Schoenfeld, K Weber (2016) Polysilicon passivating contacts for silicon solar cells: Interface passivation and carrier transport mechanism 28(28):5891–5897

  19. Thomas RE, North RB, Norman CE (1980) Low cost - high efficiency MIS/inversion layer solar cells. IEEE Electron Device Letters 1(5):79–80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Burkhard K et al (2000). IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices 47(11):2167–2178

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Raisul I, Saraswat KC (2014) 2014 IEEE 40th photovoltaic specialist conference (PVSC)IEEE

    Google Scholar 

  22. Silvaco ATLAS User’s manual (2016)

  23. Oktasendra F, Hidayat R, Utama RI (2020). In Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1481(1):012005

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Noor FA, Oktasendra F, Sustini E, Khairurrijal K (2018). Mater Technol 33(14):865–871

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Shousha AHM (1989). Sol Wind Technol 6:705–712

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Islam MJ, Hasan MM, Sami R, Chowdhury MIB (2016) In 2016 4th international conference on the development in the in renewable energy technology (ICDRET) IEEE, pp 1–4

    Google Scholar 

  27. BenMachiche S, Dehimi L, Bencherif H, Pezzimenti F (2020) The role of high-K dielectrics in improving the performance of metal-insulator-semiconductor solar cells. Silicon, pp 1–9

    Google Scholar 

  28. Bencherif H, Yousfi A, Dehimi L, Pezzimenti F, Della Corte FG (2019), Analysis of Al2O3 high-k gate dielectric effect on the electrical characteristics of a 4H-SiC low-power MOSFET, In 2019 1st international conference on sustainable renewable energy systems and applications (ICSRESA) IEEE:1–4

  29. Zellag S, Dehimi L, Asar TARIK, Saadoune A, Fritah A, Özçelik S (2018). Applied Physics A 124(1):1–8

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Doghish MY, Ho FD (1993). IEEE transactions on electron devices 40(8):1446–1454

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Bendib T, Bencherif H, Abdi MA, Meddour F, Dehimi L, Chahdi M (2020) Combined optical-electrical modeling of perovskite solar cell with an optimized design. Opt Mater 109:110259

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Clima S, Pourtois G, Van Elshocht S, De Gendt S, Heyns MM, Wouters DJ, Kittl JA (2009). ECS Trans 19(2):729

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Zhang J, Huang Z, Yin Z, Li M, Chen F, Shen Q (2020). Journal of Wuhan University of Technology-mater Sci Ed 35(5):863–871

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Bencherif H, Dehimi L, Pezzimenti F, Yousfi A, Abdi MA, Saidi L, Corte FGD (2020). Optik 223:165346

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Bencherif H, Dehimi L, Pezzimenti F, Della Corte FG (2019). Applied Physics A 125(5):294

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by DGRSDT of Ministry of Higher education of Algeria.

Availability of Data and Material

Data sharing not applicable.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and publication of this article.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Science, University of Batna 1, Batna, Algeria

    S. Ben Machiche & L. Dehimi

  2. Laboratory of Metallic and Semiconductor Materials, University of Biskra, Biskra, Algeria

    L. Dehimi

  3. University Mostefa Benboulaid Batna 2, Batna, Algeria

    H. Bencherif

  4. DIIES, Mediterranea University of Reggio Calabria, Reggio Calabria, Italy

    F. Pezzimenti

Authors
  1. S. Ben Machiche
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. L. Dehimi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. H. Bencherif
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. F. Pezzimenti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

All authors have contributed equally to the work.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to L. Dehimi.

Ethics declarations

Consent to Participate

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Consent for Publication

The Author transfers to Springer the non-exclusive publication rights and he warrants that his contribution is original and that he has full power to make this grant. The author signs for and accepts responsibility for releasing this material on behalf of any and all co-authors. This transfer of publication rights covers the non-exclusive right to reproduce and distribute the article, including reprints, translations, photographic reproductions, microform, electronic form (offline, online) or any other reproductions of similar nature. The author may self-archive an author-created version of his article on his own website and his institution’s repository, including his final version; however he may not use Springer’s PDF version which is posted on www.springerlink.com. Furthermore, the author may only post his version provided acknowledgement is given to the Journal and Springer as one of the original places of publication and a link is inserted to the published article on Springer’s website.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Declaration of Interests

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests:

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Machiche, S.B., Dehimi, L., Bencherif, H. et al. An Enhanced Conversion Efficiency of Metal Insulator Semiconductor Solar Cells by Using Different High-K Dielectrics. Silicon 14, 2265–2274 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-021-01025-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-021-01025-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation