Simulated Study and Surface Passivation of Lithium Fluoride-Based Electron Contact for High-Efficiency Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells. (3rd January 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Khokhar, Muhammad Quddamah; Hussain, Shahzada Qamar; Chowdhury, Sanchari; Zahid, Muhammad Aleem; Pham, Duy Phong; Cho, Eun-Chel; Yi, Junsin
• Is Part Of: ECS journal of solid state science and technology. Volume 11:Number 1(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-01-03
• Subjects: Solid state chemistry -- Periodicals; Electronics -- Materials -- Periodicals; Electrochemistry -- Periodicals; 541.0421
• DOI: 10.1149/2162-8777/ac3e7e
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2162-8777

Abstract

Abstract : Numerical simulation and experimental techniques were used to investigate lithium fluoride (LiFx ) films as an electron extraction layer for the application of silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells, with a focus on the paths toward excellent surface passivation and superior efficiency. The presence of a 7 nm thick hydrogenated intrinsic amorphous silicon (a-Si:H(i)) passivation layer along with thermally evaporated 4 nm thick LiFx resulted in outstanding passivation properties and suppresses the recombination of carriers. As a result, minority carrier lifetime ( τ eff ) as well as implied open-circuit voltage (iVoc ) reached up 933 μ s and iVoc of 734 mV, accordingly at 120 °C annealing temperature. A detailed simulated study was performed for the complete LiFx based SHJ solar cells to achieve superior efficiency. Optimized performance of SHJ solar cells using a LiFx layer thickness of 4 nm with energy bandgap (Eg ) of 10.9 eV and the work function of 3.9 eV was shown as: Voc = 745.7 mV, Jsc = 38.21 mA cm −2, FF = 82.17%, and η = 23.41%. Generally, our work offers an improved understanding of the passivation layer, electron extraction layer, and their combined effects on SHJ solar cells via simulation.