Simulation of interdigitated back-contact silicon heterojunction solar cells with quantum transport model

A simulation of interdigitated back-contact silicon heterojunction (IBC-SHJ) solar cells was performed using a quantum transport model to consider the quantum effect at the crystalline/amorphous (c/a) heterojunction interface. It was found that the impact of the quantum effect on the open-circuit voltage is comparable to that of the interface defect density at the c/a interface, indicating the importance of implementation of the quantum model. The optimal back-contact design was also discussed from the viewpoint of mass production, in which the design rule is relaxed. The degradation of the conversion efficiency by widening the gap between the p- and n-aSi:H layers can be compensated by improving passivation quality at the c/a interface. (C) 2015 The Japan Society of Applied Physics