Influence of the photoactive layer thickness on the device parameters and their temperature dependence in thin crystalline silicon photovoltaic devices

Abstract

One of nowadays crucial questions with crystalline silicon solar cells is the reduction of manufacturing costs. One possible concept of reducing cost is to produce solar cells with thin photoactive layers, in order to use less amount of good quality and thus expensive raw material. In addition photovoltaic devices are one of the most obvious solutions for on-chip energy harvesting. There are basically two approaches: the monolithically integrated photovoltaic devices, and photovoltaic devices that are attached to the chip surface and connected to the integrated circuit. These devices also feature a thin photoactive layer in the majority of the cases. This paper aims to investigate the influence of the photoactive layer thickness on the on the photocurrent and the spectral response. It was found that the temperature dependence of these parameters increases with decreasing photoactive layer thickness. A possible explanation for this phenomenon is also presented.