High Efficiency Inorganic/Inorganic Amorphous Silicon/Heterojunction Silicon Tandem Solar Cells

We investigated high-efficiency two-terminal tandem photovoltaic (PV) devices consisting of a p/i/n thin film silicon top sub-cell (p/i/n-TFS) and a heterojunction with an intrinsic thin-layer (HIT) bottom sub-cell. We used computer simulations and experimentation. The short-circuit current density (J_sc) of the top sub-cell limits the J_sc of the p/i/n-TFS/HIT tandem PV device. In order to improve the J_sc of the top sub-cell, we used a buffer-layer at the p/i and i/n interface and a graded forward-profile (f-p) band gap hydrogenated amorphous silicon germanium active layer, namely i-layer, in the top sub-cell. These two approaches showed a remarkable raise of the top sub-cell's J_sc, leading to the increase of the J_sc of the PV tandem device. Furthermore, in order to minimize the optical loss, we employed a double-layer anti-reflective coating (DL-ARC) with a magnesium fluoride/indium tin oxide double layer on the front surface. The reduction in broadband reflection on the front surface (with the DL-ARC) and the enhanced optical absorption in the long wavelength region (with the graded f-p band gap) resulted in the high J_sc, which helped achieve the efficiency up to 16.04% for inorganic-inorganic c-Si-based tandem PV devices.