Influence of WO3-Based Antireflection Coatings on Current Density in Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells

• Published in: Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 13; no. 9; p. 1550
• Main Authors: Lee, Doowon, Chae, Myoungsu, Ahmad, Ibtisam, Kim, Jong-Ryeol, Kim, Hee-Dong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 05-05-2023; MDPI
• Subjects: anti-reflection coating; Antireflection coatings; Copper; Current density; Efficiency; Electric arcs; Fabrication; Heterojunctions; Indium tin oxides; Light; Manufacturing; Photovoltaic cells; Plating; Production costs; R&D; Research & development; Silicon; silicon heterojunction solar cell; Simulation; Solar cells; Solar energy; Tungsten; Tungsten oxides; WO3
• ISSN: 2079-4991; 2079-4991
• DOI: 10.3390/nano13091550

Antireflection coatings (ARCs) with an indium thin oxide (ITO) layer on silicon heterojunction solar cells (SHJ) have garnered significant attention, which is due to their potential for increasing current density (Jsc) and enhancing reliability. We propose an additional tungsten trioxide (WO3) layer on the ITO/Si structure in this paper in order to raise the Jsc and demonstrate the influence on the SHJ solar cell. First, we simulate the Jsc characteristics for the proposed WO3/ITO/Si structure in order to analyze Jsc depending on the thickness of WO3 using an OPAL 2 simulator. As a result, the OPAL 2 simulation shows an increase in Jsc of 0.65 mA/cm2 after the 19 nm WO3 deposition on ITO with a doping concentration of 6.1 × 1020/cm2. We then fabricate the proposed samples and observe an improved efficiency of 0.5% with an increased Jsc of 0.75 mA/cm2 when using a 20 nm thick WO3 layer on the SHJ solar cell. The results indicate that the WO3 layer can be a candidate to improve the efficiency of SHJ solar cells with a low fabrication cost.