On the performance limits for crystalline silicon solar cells: A theoretical study

The energy is the most important and indispensable part for humanity in all over the world. For the time being the most consumed energy sources are oil, coal, and natural gas. Although mentioned finite energy reserves are at utmost in use, they have many disadvantages, such as their not being renewable energy sources, having relatively high cost, and having negative effects are the irreversible damage types for nature. Something must be done to solve these problems and protect environment for future generations. The starting point of the researchers was trying to find a clean, infinite, cheap energy resources. The most effective solution was found to be utilizing from solar energy. They have realized the potential of the energy that can be obtained from sun and named it as photovoltaic technology (PVT). PVT is the technology of producing clean energy from sun by using a solar cell. Among the other renewable energy sources, such as wind energy, geothermal, ocean etc., sun power is the most promising energy source because of its enormous energy potential. PVT is based on semiconductor materials like Silicon (Si), Gallium Arsenide (GaAs), Germanium (Ge) etc. The most used and preferred semiconductor material is Si because of its low cost and abundance in the earth's crust. In this study, we have investigated the optimization of Si solar cell parameters from optical and electrical view by using Personal Computer One Dimensional (PC1D) software simulation program. The variables that have been optimized were the thickness and the type of the absorber layer, doping profile, antireflective coating (ARC) materials, and surface texturing effects. In order to be able to guess the process results, fabrication of any solar cells requires preliminary simulation studies. It is impossible to test all the aforementioned solar cell parameters in real world and find the best process conditions for a specific solar cell. There are two reasons for why not to directly initiate a process: time and cost. It is important for any software simulation program to keep it easy and fast with new developments in the experimental work, and in available computer working environments. In this thesis, we have simulated and optimized the solar cell parameters depending on semiconductor material's electrical and physical properties with high accuracy, and in a very short time to be able to obtain highly efficient solar cells.