Simulation study of effect of heteroepitaxial growth on crystalline germanium heterojunction solar cell

The impact of crystalline silicon (c-Si) heteroepitaxial growth on a crystalline germanium (c-Ge) heterojunction solar cell has been investigated by numerical simulation. It is revealed that the defect state density of the c-Si heteroepitaxial growth layer does not significantly affect the conversio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJapanese Journal of Applied Physics Vol. 54; no. 8S1; pp. 8 - 12
Main Authors Nakano, Shinya, Takeuchi, Yoshiaki
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published The Japan Society of Applied Physics 01.08.2015
Subjects
Computer simulation
Conversion
Crystal defects
Crystal structure
Density
Heterojunctions
Photovoltaic cells
Solar cells
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Summary:The impact of crystalline silicon (c-Si) heteroepitaxial growth on a crystalline germanium (c-Ge) heterojunction solar cell has been investigated by numerical simulation. It is revealed that the defect state density of the c-Si heteroepitaxial growth layer does not significantly affect the conversion efficiency, in contrast to the case of a c-Si heterojunction solar cell. A valence band offset between the c-Ge and the c-Si heteroepitaxial growth layer prevents recombination at the defect states. On the other hand, interface defect states have a greater impact on the performance due to the weak built-in potential. From these results, reducing the effect of the interface defects is essential to improve the solar cell performance. Possible ways to reduce the effect of the interface defect states are also discussed.
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ISSN:0021-4922
1347-4065
DOI:10.7567/JJAP.54.08KB06