Performance Evaluation of Passivated Silicon Carrier-Selective Contact Solar Cell

In this paper, a solar cell with amorphous silicon (a-Si) passivation that uses transition metal oxides (TMOs) for charge carrier collection has been modeled and analyzed for its performance. Charge carrier selection has been incorporated through selective band alignment provided by NiO and TiO2 TMOs for electrons and holes, respectively. The presence of a-Si interfacial layers for defect passivation prevents carrier loss due to high interface state densities at the Si/TMO interfaces. This structure is a potential candidate for high-efficiency solar cells (>25%) with a realistic approach towards the solution of high defect density. Optical analysis of the proposed structure has been done to analyze the amount of light entering the silicon and capable of generating electron-hole pairs. The amount of light lost has also been quantified into reflection loss, parasitic absorption, and back metal absorption. Impact of surface passivation quality and doping of NiO and TiO2 on its performance has been analyzed through the detailed device simulations. This provides a realistic pathway for engineering of passivation quality and doping of metal oxides for improved performance.