Influence of Physical Parameters of Silicon Solar Cells on the Quantum Efficiency and I-V Characteristics

Silicon is considered as the most commonly available solar cells. There are two types of silicon solar cells available in market consisting of crystalline and amorphous form of silicon. This material has a large potential for cost reduction in its conventional form as well as crystalline state. This paper presents the simulations of silicon solar cells using a one dimensional computer simulator known as PC1D. PC1D is considered to be one of the most commercially available software used to evaluate the performance of solar cells. The efficiency of the solar cell is determined on the basis of quantum efficiency and I-V characteristics. Quantum efficiency of a solar cell is defined as the ratio of number of photo-carriers collected by the solar cell to the amount of photons of a specific energy being incident on the cell. The quantum efficiency factor can be expressed in the form of either wavelength or energy. Variation of quantum efficiency and I-V characteristics with respect to surface area, doping concentration and layer thicknesshas been studied under AM1.5G condition with an intensity of 0.1 W/cm2.