Band offset engineering for p-SnO/n-mc-Si heterojunction solar cell

A cost-effective p-SnOx/n-multicrystalline Si heterojunction thin film solar cell with SnOx as an absorber layer is investigated by Technology Computer-Aided Design simulation using experimental values of the absorption coefficient of the SnOx-layer. Heterointerface recombination and trapping of carriers due to the band offsets are considered in the simulation. Conduction and valence band offsets, which can be engineered by varying the growth kinetics dependent bandgap and electron affinity of SnOx, play a significant role in enhancing the efficiency of the solar cell. A maximum conversion efficiency of 10.506% is obtained by a proper choice of affinity and bandgap for a particular thickness of the SnOx-layer.