Process and device modelling for enhancement of silicon solar cell efficiency

摘要

Technology Computer-Aided Design (TCAD) using integrated process and device simulation tools is widely used in the semiconductor industry to reduce development costs and time, and to enhance device performance. In the PV industry, TCAD has usually focussed on device simulation. This paper shows results of integrated TCAD applied to the Laser Grooved Buried Contact (LGBC) silicon solar cell process, using 2D simulation of process steps to predict the solar cell structure and 2D device simulation of the resultant cell operation. This enables direct assessment of the impact of changing fabrication steps on key cell parameters such as V_(oc), j_(sc), FF and efficiency. Results suggest integrated TCAD may significantly accelerate development of future PV processes.