Prediction and prevention of defective regions within thin-film silicon solar cells

Abstract

Previously developed growth model is used to simulate occurrence of defective regions within thin-film silicon solar cells. Such procedure enables expansion of optical optimization with prediction and prevention of defective regions, resulting in optimized textures generating high short-circuit current density (JSC) while maintaining good electrical properties of the cell. The approach is applied on sinusoidal and semi-circular texture. Best predicted case for the analysed double junction thin-film silicon solar cell is the semi-circular texture with period of 1800 nm and height of 900 nm, where improvement in JSC of 2 % and 85 % is expected for top and bottom cell, respectively.