Modelling of grain boundary effects in nanocrystalline/multicrystalline silicon heterojunction solar cells

摘要

Heterojunction solar cells formed by nanocrystalline silicon films on fine-grained multicrystalline silicon substrates are simulated in the presence of grain boundaries. The effects of grain boundaries on the dark and illuminated current-voltage (I-V) characteristics and spectral response (SR) of heterojunction (HJ) solar cells are assessed using 1D and 2D device simulations. The grain boundary in fine-grained multicrystalline silicon is modelled in two ways: as a defective surface with continuous defect distribution throughout the bandgap, and as a hypothetical sheet with a certain recombination velocity for electrons and holes. The SR and I-V characteristics of HJs are exploited to characterize grain boundary effects on the photovoltaic properties of the solar cells and photodetectors. Simulation results show noticeable differences on the dark I-V and SR of on- and off-grain boundary HJs. Grain boundary effects become important when fine-grained multicrystalline substrates are used. Measurement results of tiny test structures fabricated on the grain boundary show consistently inferior dark I-V and SR characteristics compared to those fabricated away from the grain and allow us to quantify the recombination at the grain boundary.