Geometrical optimization and contact configuration in radial pn junction silicon nanorod and microrod solar cells
Voigt F, Stelzner T, Christiansen S (2013)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2013
Journal
Book Volume: 21
Pages Range: 1567-1579
Journal Issue: 8
DOI: 10.1002/pip.2231
Abstract
Electric charge transport simulations of symmetrically doped radial pn junction silicon nanorod solar cells were performed using the Technology Computer-aided Design software suite by Silvaco. Two schemes of electric contacting were applied, the first one consisting of a cathode wrapped around the cladding of the rod and the second one in a cathode located only on the top rod surface. In both cases, the anode was implemented just below the bottom end of the p-type rod core. P-type cores and n-type shells of the rods were assumed, with dopant densities of 1018 cm- 3 in both regions. The location of the pn junction was chosen such that well-formed space charge regions could be established with the outer end of the n-type depletion region being adjacent to the cylindric surface of the nanorod. Rod radii and rod lengths were varied and optimized in a three-step process for both types of contacting schemes. It was found that inhomogeneous carrier generation profiles diminish the open-circuit voltage in case of a wrapped cathode configuration. Most realistic is the usage of a top contact configuration with rod radii of 2 μm and lengths of around 100 μm, leading to a cell efficiency of about 15%. Further enhancement of performance is expected, if light trapping of the nanorod layer is taken into account and photonic light harvesting is applied. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Computer-based simulations were performed on radial pn junction silicon nanorod and microrod solar cells to find optimized geometric dimensions and explore the effects of different types of contact configurations. A top contact configuration rendered superior to a wrapped contact configuration within the chosen set of material parameters. Maximization of cell efficiency assuming Lambert-Beerian absorption led to optimized rod radii in the 1-μm range and to optimized rod lengths in the 100-μm range for top contact configuration. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Involved external institutions
Germany (DE)How to cite
APA:
Voigt, F., Stelzner, T., & Christiansen, S. (2013). Geometrical optimization and contact configuration in radial pn junction silicon nanorod and microrod solar cells. Progress in Photovoltaics, 21(8), 1567-1579. https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pip.2231
MLA:
Voigt, F., T. Stelzner, and Silke Christiansen. "Geometrical optimization and contact configuration in radial pn junction silicon nanorod and microrod solar cells." Progress in Photovoltaics 21.8 (2013): 1567-1579.
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