An in-depth analysis of the silicon solar cell key parameters' optimal magnitudes using PC1D simulations

In this study, the optimal magnitudes of silicon solar cell key parameters were calculated and verified using the PC1D simulation program. By varying the parameters such as emitter thickness, base thickness, emitter dopant density and base dopant density, the corresponding I-V curves were generated. According to open circuit voltage (V-oc) and short circuit current (I) in I-V curves, the optimum magnitudes of these parameters were determined. The results were validated by investigating the factors related to the carrier transmission mechanism including diffusion length, minority carrier lifetime, photogeneration and conductivity in a cell. Hence, the paper demonstrates the best magnitudes for emitter thickness, base thickness, emitter dopant density and base dopant density are 0.1 mu m, 100 mu m, 10(20) cm(-3) and 5 x 10(16) cm(-3) respectively. Furthermore, the optimized parameters obtained from simulations show good agreement with corresponding values of one commercial crystalline solar cell. The study proves that PC1D can provide reliable reference values for solar cell design process. (C) 2018 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.