Abstract

The optimization of the solar cell includes the study of the influence of parameters such as cell thickness, doping levels and profiles, contact configuration and optical confinement on the output to obtain a structure leading to the best performance. The optimal parameters depend on the structure of the solar cell, the quality of the substrate material (lifetime, mobility), the quality of the ohmic contacts, the speed of recombination, etc. The cell to be studied has a structure composed of an n-type gap material (Eg_3C-SiC=2.36 eV) as a window layer and a small gap material (Eg_Si = 1.12eV) as a substrate. The manufacture of a cell based on 3C-SiC / Si is expensive because 3C-SiC is a material that does not exist in the natural state, hence the interest of numerical simulation in order to determine the most important parameters for the operation of heterojunction solar cells (3C-SiC / Si), to minimize losses and to optimize the physical and geometrical parameters of the cell in order to obtain maximum efficiency. The most important recombination sources are Shockley-Read-Hall recombinations in the substrate, Auger recombinations and recombinations on the front of the cell. To study the influence of the various parameters, we first defined a reference solar cell with a set of fixed parameters, then we varied the parameters one by one (the others remaining fixed) in order to analyze their influences. On the characteristics of the solar cell, we obtained a Voc of 0.633 6 V, a short-circuit current of 37.82 mA / cm², a form factor of 83.38%, which gives us a yield of 19.98%.

Key words: Solar cells, numerical study, heterostructure, silicon carbide, Silicon.