Numerical simulation of planar BaSi2 based Schottky junction solar cells toward high efficiency

• Published in: Solid-state electronics 2018-11, Vol.149, p.46-51
• Main Authors: Chen, Lian, Chen, Hai, Deng, Quanrong, Wang, Geming, Wang, Shenggao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: AMPS; BaSi2; Device simulation; Schottky junction solar cells
• ISSN: 0038-1101; 1879-2405
• DOI: 10.1016/j.sse.2018.08.008

•A systematic numerical simulation on BaSi2 based Schottky junction solar cells has been carried out.•The optimized solar cell with 2000 nm BaSi2 can reach high conversion efficiency up to 25.28%.•The effects of barrier height, illumination condition and defect density have been investigated. The theoretical and experimental studies on BaSi2/Si heterojunction solar cells have demonstrated the great potential in utilization of BaSi2 material as light absorption layer for developing high efficiency solar cells with low cost. In addition to BaSi2/Si heterojunction solar cells, BaSi2 based Schottky junction solar cells could also be achieved by coupling n-type or p-type BaSi2 with suitable metal electrode. In this work, BaSi2 based Schottky junction solar cells were simulated with the program AMPS (analysis of microelectronic and photonic structures)-1D in order to thoroughly understand the mechanism for further improvement in conversion efficiency. Simulation results demonstrated that a simpler structure of metal/n-BaSi2 Schottky junction solar cell with thickness of 2000 nm can reach high conversion efficiency up to 24.12% and 25.28% for ND = 1 × 1015 cm−3 and ND = 1 × 1018 cm−3 respectively, being comparable to BaSi2/Si heterojunction solar cell. Contact barrier height, illumination condition, as well as defect level of metal/n-BaSi2 Schottky junction solar cell were also identified to significantly influence the device performance.