Though Schottky-barrier solar cells have been studied extensively previously, not much work has been done recently on these cells, because of the fact that conventional p-n junction silicon solar cells have much higher efficiency and have attracted the attention of most of the researchers. However, the Schottky-barrier solar cells have the advantage of simple and economical fabrication process. In this paper, the effect of back surface recombination velocity on the minority carrier distribution and the spectral response of a Schottky-barrier silicon solar cell have been investigated and, based on this study, a new design of the cell with a back surface field has been suggested, which is expected to give much improved performance.
A theoretical investigation has been carried out on a GaAs-Si n/p heterojunction solar cell. Analytical expressions of the excess minority carrier concentration and photocurrent contribution from both the top and base regions of the cell have been obtained. The effects of different parameters such as front and back surface recombination velocities, wavelength of the incident light and corresponding absorption coefficient of the material on the excess minority carrier distribution and photocurrent density have been studied. It is observed from these theoretical studies that the back surface recombination has a significant effect on the photocurrent density and hence on the spectral response of these solar cells. Therefore, a structure of a heterojunction solar cell with a back surface field (BSF) has been suggested to give better performance, particularly with regard to the photocurrent of the cell.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.