Author(s)

Rasika N. Mohottige^*, Micheal Farndale, Gary S. Coombs, Shahnoza Saburhhojayeva

Department of Natural Sciences, Waldorf University, Forest City, IA, USA.

We report the performances of a chalcopyrite Cu(In, Ga)Se₂ CIGS-based thin-film solar cell with a newly employed high conductive n-Si layer. The data analysis was performed with the help of the 1D-Solar Cell Capacitance Simulator (1D-SCAPS) software program. The new device structure is based on the CIGS layer as the absorber layer, n-Si as the high conductive layer, i-In₂S₃, and i-ZnO as the buffer and window layers, respectively. The optimum CIGS bandgap was determined first and used to simulate and analyze the cell performance throughout the experiment. This analysis revealed that the absorber layer’s optimum bandgap value has to be 1.4 eV to achieve maximum efficiency of 22.57%. Subsequently, output solar cell parameters were analyzed as a function of CIGS layer thickness, defect density, and the operating temperature with an optimized n-Si layer. The newly modeled device has a p-CIGS/n-Si/In₂S₃/Al-ZnO structure. The main objective was to improve the overall cell performance while optimizing the thickness of absorber layers, defect density, bandgap, and operating temperature with the newly employed optimized n-Si layer. The increase of absorber layer thickness from 0.2 - 2 µm showed an upward trend in the cell’s performance, while the increase of defect density and operating temperature showed a downward trend in solar cell performance. This study illustrates that the proposed cell structure shows higher cell performances and can be fabricated on the lab-scale and industrial levels.

n-Si, p-CIGS, 1D-SCAPS, Thin-Films, In₂S₃

Mohottige, R. , Farndale, M. , Coombs, G. and Saburhhojayeva, S. (2024) Numerical Analysis on the Effect of n-Si on Cu(In, Ga)Se₂ Based Thin-Films for High-Performance Solar Cells by 1D-SCAPS. Open Journal of Applied Sciences, 14, 1315-1329. doi: 10.4236/ojapps.2024.145086.