Investigation of light trapping from P–N Interleaved Structure-based absorber layer for the efficiency enhancement of In0.4Ga0.6N homo junction solar cell

Abstract

Fossil fuels contribute over 80 % of the total energy use worldwide. The growing demand for electricity, the limited storage of fossil fuels, and the threat of global warming have necessitated adopting alternate energy sources. Solar energy is gaining popularity as a clean, renewable, and environmentally friendly alternative energy source. Consequently, the solar cell industry is rapidly expanding accompanied by discoveries in novel materials, solar cell structures, and processing methods advancements. Thin film solar cells are currently being investigated as an alternative to silicon solar cells, whose efficiency is approaching the theoretical maximum. Emerging materials like InGaN are currently being studied for thin film solar cells that may be manufactured with minimal material use while producing high efficiency. The key objective of this research is to design and simulate a novel structure of an InGaN single homo junction solar cell by employing an effective light management scheme that produces a large short-circuit current and efficiency while maintaining the thickness of the device. This study proposes modifying the structure of an InGaN solar cell by inserting an array of P–N Interleaved Structure (PNIS) for efficient light trapping of incident solar radiation to enhance the solar cell's efficiency. The device structure and material parameters were optimized by evaluating the effect of absorber thickness, base thickness, and acceptor doping concentration on the performance parameters of the planar and PNIS-based solar cells. Simulation results reveal that the performance of optimized PNIS-based InGaN solar cells improved as compared to reference planar solar cell. For the PNIS-based solar cell, efficiency and J_SC were improved by 10 %, and V_OC was increased by 8 % as compared to the parameters of the planar solar cell. The results indicate that the proposed PNIS-based solar cell structure can be effectively employed to create thin film and tandem solar cells.