Optical and Electrical Simulation of μc-Si:H Solar Cells: Effect of Substrate Morphology and Crystalline Fraction

Hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) is an important material for high-efficiency multijunction solar cells. Due to its complex microstructural properties, it is difficult to describe the electronic behavior clearly. In this study, we measure opto-electronic properties including the mobility gap of μc-Si:H films in solar cells, as well as physical properties such as the crystalline fraction profile. The height distribution function of the ZnO substrates is obtained by AFM scans, which is used for optical simulation. All the parameters that we obtained from measurements were used as input parameters of a model in the ASA simulator. We obtained a good fit between measurements and simulations.