Accueil > Science et Technologie > Revue des Energies Renouvelables > Volume 11 > Numéro 03

Influence of interfacial oxide layer thickness on conversion efficiency of SnO2/SiO2/Si(N) Solar Cells

We have fabricated efficient and economical solar cells using tin oxide SnO2
deposited onto silicon substrate by Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Vapour Deposition
(APCVD) technique. This low-cost process is of the interest to deposit an interfacial oxide
(insulator) layer SiO2 with controlled thickness δ . It is observed that the presence of this
interfacial layer considerably improves the open circuit voltage and the efficiency of the
solar cell by reducing the dark current. In this paper, we studied the effects of interfacial
oxide layer thickness δ on the efficiency and open circuit voltage of the SnO2/SiO2/Si(N)
solar cells. From our analysis, we have found that the efficiency of the cells increases at
first with the interfacial oxide layer thickness δ , and after acquiring a maximum value
falls with a further increase of δ . We have experimentally optimized the interfacial layer
thickness for maximum efficiency. The effect of substrate doping profile is also
investigated. Finally, the results for our best solar cells are presented and analysed.