Properties of SnO2:F/p-type aSi:H interface in thin film a-Si:H solar cells

CARATTERIZZAZIONE DELL' INTERFACCIA TRA OSSIDO CONDUTTIVO TRASPARENTE E SILICIO AMORFO IDROGENATO PER APPLICAZIONI IN CELLE SOLARI A FILM SOTTILE

This work is the result of three years of studies during the PhD course in “Applied Physics” at the University of Palermo. The main object of the scientific activity is the electrical characterization and simulation of heterojunctions between transparent conductive oxide (TCO) and hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) for applications in thin film solar cells. The goal of this research is to improve the performance of p-i-n diode hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin film solar cells, in order to define the possible improvement of these prototypes. This PhD work stems from a collaboration between the Department of Physics, University of Palermo, the Institute for Microelectronics and Micros…

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

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.