Influence of Efficient Thickness of Antireflection Coating Layer of HfO2 for Crystalline Silicon Solar Cell

Abstract

Anti-reflective coating (ARC) layers on silicon (Si) solar cells usually play a vital role in the amount of light absorbed into the cell and protect the device from environmental degradation. This paper reports on the thickness optimization of hafnium oxide (HfO2) as an ARC layer for high-performance Si solar cells with PC1D simulation analysis. The deposition of the HfO2 ARC layer on Si cells was carried out with a low-cost sol-gel process followed by spin coating. The thickness of the ARC layer was controlled by varying the spinning speed. The HfO2 ARC with a thickness of 70 nm possessed the lowest average reflectance of 6.33% by covering wavelengths ranging from 400–1000 nm. The different thicknesses of HfO2 ARC layers were used as input parameters in a simulation study to explore the photovoltaic characteristics of Si solar cells. The simulation findings showed that, at 70 nm thickness, Si solar cells had an exceptional external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 98% and a maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 21.15%. The thicknesses of HfO2 ARC considerably impacted the photovoltaic (PV) characteristics of Si solar cells, leading to achieving high-performance solar cells.

Effect of films thickness and hydrogen annealing on passivation performance of plasma ALD based Hafnium oxide films

“…Passivation helps to reduce surface recombination, improving the efficiency of solar cells by extending the lifetime of photo-generated carriers. The application of HfO x as a passivation layer on the rear surface will help in minimizing losses due to carrier recombination and will enhance the performance of the solar cell [55,59,60]. While the HfO x layer adds thickness to the overall solar cell structure, the benefits in terms of improved passivation and carrier lifetime may outweigh the thickness aspect.…”

Systematic Investigation of the Optical Characteristics of GaAs Solar Cells with Antireflection Coatings and Metallic Nanoparticles Using Finite Element Analysis

“…26 An optimum thickness (70 nm) of the HfO 2 layer is used as ARC for high-performance Si SCs, which lowered the average reflectance to ∼6.33% and exhibited an external quantum efficiency of ∼98% and PCE of 21.15%. 26 A thin polymeric polystyrenesulfonate (PSS) film is used as an ARC and surface passivation layer for crystalline Si SCs and has exhibited substantial improvement in PCE, J SC , and open circuit voltage. 27 Front-surface reflectivity is significantly reduced in Si solar cells using a single layer of ZnO, a bilayer of SiO 2 /Si 3 N 4 , and nanoscale surface texturing, subsequently improving the PCE by 20, 24, and 30%, respectively.…”

“…This improved photovoltaic performance is due to reduced reflection and recombination at the interfacial layers . Theoretical simulations reveal that different polymer materials, such as poly­(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS), polystyrene (PS), polycarbonate (PC), poly­(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), and poly­(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), used as ARCs over Si SCs resulted in efficiency enhancement by ∼5%, with the highest PCE of ∼20.7% achieved with PC . An optimum thickness (70 nm) of the HfO 2 layer is used as ARC for high-performance Si SCs, which lowered the average reflectance to ∼6.33% and exhibited an external quantum efficiency of ∼98% and PCE of 21.15% .…”

“…Theoretical simulations reveal that different polymer materials, such as poly­(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS), polystyrene (PS), polycarbonate (PC), poly­(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), and poly­(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), used as ARCs over Si SCs resulted in efficiency enhancement by ∼5%, with the highest PCE of ∼20.7% achieved with PC . An optimum thickness (70 nm) of the HfO 2 layer is used as ARC for high-performance Si SCs, which lowered the average reflectance to ∼6.33% and exhibited an external quantum efficiency of ∼98% and PCE of 21.15% . A thin polymeric polystyrenesulfonate (PSS) film is used as an ARC and surface passivation layer for crystalline Si SCs and has exhibited substantial improvement in PCE, J SC , and open circuit voltage .…”

Numerical Exploration and Statistical Analysis of Mathematical Parameters of Anti Reflecting Coating on Operational Parameters Improvement of Solar Cell

“…The incident light will reflect between the sloped surfaces, strengthening the interaction between the incident light and the semiconductor surface. The second layer is protected by a single or multi-layer antireflective coating [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40]. These coatings are typically very thin, with an optical thickness of about one-quarter to one-half the incident wavelength.…”