Kinetic Monte Carlo simulation of transport in amorphous silicon passivation layers in silicon heterojunction solar cells

Muralidharan, Pradyumna; Goodnick, Stephen M.; Vasileska, Dragica

doi:10.1007/s10825-019-01379-3

Cited by 7 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…using the KMC method to study transport across the a-Si:H (i) layer. [24][25][26] F I G U R E 3 Energy distribution function calculated by the EMC at (a) the a-Si:H(i)/c-Si heterointerface and (b) in the low-field quasineutral c-Si bulk, $100 nm away from the a-Si:H (i)/c-Si heterointerface…”

Section: Kinetic Monte Carlomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The multi-phonon injection/emission processes are modeled according to the formalism developed by Hermann and Schenk, 27 defect-to-defect transitions (hopping) are modeled using the Miller-Abrahams approach, 28 and a one-dimensional Poole-Frenkel emission approach is used according to Hartke. 29 Further details about the implementation of these transport models can be found in Muralidharan et al 24 The transition rate associated with multi-phonon injection is given by Equation 9, that is,…”

Section: Kinetic Monte Carlomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previously, in Muralidharan et al, 24 we have conducted detailed simulations to explore the dependence of transit times on various material parameters. Our simulations found that a change of band tail defect density from 10 18 cm À3 !…”

Section: Sensitivity Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Muralidharan et al, 24 we also analyzed the dependence of transit times on phonon energy. Phonons are distributed according to the Bose-Einstein distribution shown in Equation 13.…”

Section: Sensitivity Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For all three processes, we follow the same procedure to select final states. We have previously reported our KMC algorithm in detail in Muralidharan et al 24 We consider multi‐phonon processes for injection into the a‐Si:H(i) barrier, defect to defect (hopping) transitions for transport inside the a‐Si:H(i) barrier layer, and a multi‐phonon defect emission and Poole‐Frenkel emission for extraction from the a‐Si:H(i) barrier (shown in Figure 6). 24 We have previously reported preliminary results using the KMC method to study transport across the a‐Si:H(i) layer 24–26 …”

Section: Theoretical Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modeling of transport in carrier‐selective contacts in silicon heterojunction solar cells

Muralidharan

Goodnick

Vasileska

2021

Progress in Photovoltaics

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High‐performance silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells use carrier‐selective contact structures based on hydrogentated amorphous Si (a‐Si:H) to maximize collection of photogenerated carriers. The high open circuit voltages observed experimentally in SHJ cells require that the carrier‐selective contacts provide selectivity and passivation. However, a microscopic understanding of the dynamics of carrier transport through the a‐Si layer is currently lacking. In this paper, we explicitly simulate the transport of holes across the a‐Si:H(i) layer using a novel kinetic Monte Carlo approach. The hole‐selective contact structure investigated in this paper uses p‐type doped a‐Si:H(p) and intrinsic a‐Si:H(i) on an n‐type crystalline silicon wafer, where the selectivity is provided by the a‐Si:H(p) and the passivation is provided by the a‐Si:H(i). However, in addition to the passivation provided by the a‐Si:H(i), this layer also creates a potential barrier to the collection of photogenerated holes. There have been experimental studies in the literature that have suggested that multi‐phonon processes are the main transport mechanism that assists in the transport of holes across the intrinsic a‐Si:H barrier. Simulations presented here show that multi‐phonon injection of holes into the a‐Si:H(i) layer is the rate limiting step for transport across the a‐Si:H(i) layer. Our results indicate that multi‐phonon transport is strongly dependent on the electric field at the a‐Si:H(i)/c‐Si heterointerface as well. Transport simulations presented in this paper are consistent with experimental findings that multi‐phonon processes limit transport across the a‐Si:H(i) layer and are responsible for photocurrent suppression at the a‐Si:H(i)/c‐Si heterointerface when these processes are slower than the associated incident hole flux due to photo‐excitation.

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Section: Kinetic Monte Carlomentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Kinetic Monte Carlomentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Sensitivity Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Muralidharan et al, 24 we also analyzed the dependence of transit times on phonon energy. Phonons are distributed according to the Bose-Einstein distribution shown in Equation 13.…”

Section: Sensitivity Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theoretical Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modeling of transport in carrier‐selective contacts in silicon heterojunction solar cells

Muralidharan

Goodnick

Vasileska

2021

Progress in Photovoltaics

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Dipoles and defects caused by CO₂ plasma improve carrier transport of silicon solar cells

Huang,

Yang,

et al. 2023

Progress in Photovoltaics

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Carrier‐selective contact is a fundamental issue for solar cells. For silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells, it is important to improve hole transport because of the low doping efficiency of boron in amorphous silicon and the barrier stemming from valence band offset. Here, we develop a carbon dioxide (CO2) plasma treatment (PT) process to form dipoles and defect states. We find a dipole moment caused by longitudinal distribution of H and O atoms. It improves hole transport and blocks electron transport and thus suppresses carrier recombination. In the meantime, the CO2 PT process also results in defect states, which reduce passivation performance but improve hole hopping in the intrinsic amorphous layer. As a balance, an appropriate CO2 PT process at the i/p interface increases fill factor and power conversion efficiency of SHJ solar cells. We emphasize, based on sufficient evidences, this work finds a distinct role of the CO2 plasma in SHJ solar cells opposed to reported mechanisms.

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Analysis of Silicon-perovskite Tandem Solar Cells with Transition Metal Oxides as Carrier Selective Contact Layers

Marwaha

Ghosh

2022

Silicon

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Kinetic Monte Carlo simulation of transport in amorphous silicon passivation layers in silicon heterojunction solar cells

Cited by 7 publications

References 33 publications

Modeling of transport in carrier‐selective contacts in silicon heterojunction solar cells

Modeling of transport in carrier‐selective contacts in silicon heterojunction solar cells

Dipoles and defects caused by CO₂ plasma improve carrier transport of silicon solar cells

Analysis of Silicon-perovskite Tandem Solar Cells with Transition Metal Oxides as Carrier Selective Contact Layers

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Kinetic Monte Carlo simulation of transport in amorphous silicon passivation layers in silicon heterojunction solar cells

Cited by 7 publications

References 33 publications

Modeling of transport in carrier‐selective contacts in silicon heterojunction solar cells

Modeling of transport in carrier‐selective contacts in silicon heterojunction solar cells

Dipoles and defects caused by CO2 plasma improve carrier transport of silicon solar cells

Analysis of Silicon-perovskite Tandem Solar Cells with Transition Metal Oxides as Carrier Selective Contact Layers

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Product

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Dipoles and defects caused by CO₂ plasma improve carrier transport of silicon solar cells