Simulation studies of electronic transport in a-Si:H thin film solar cells

Abstract

The thin film solar cells in Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon (a-Si:H) are attractive for cheaper production and used in ultra low cost, high volume applications but have a relatively lower electronic performance. These limitations are mainly due to properties of the a-Si:H and relies on the production technique. In this study we investigate the physical mechanisms which are on the basis of the electronic transport and their relation with the technological processes. The transport-simulation computer program ATLAS (Silvaco) has been used to examine the role of the mid gap defect density in determining the performance of a-Si:H p-i-n homojunction solar cell.