Light Entrapping, Modeling & Effect of Passivation on Amorphous Silicon Based PV Cell

This research paper present efforts to enhance the performance of amorphous silicon p-i-n type solar cell using sidewall passivation. For sidewall passivation, MEMS insulation material Al2O3 was used. The main objective of this paper is to observe the effect of sidewall passivation in amorphous silicon solar cell and increase the conversion efficiency of the solar cell. Passivation of Al2O3 is found effective to subdue reverse leakage. It increases the electric potential generated in the designed solar cell. It also increases the current density generated in the solar cell by suppressing the leakage. Enhancement in J-V curve was observed after adding sidewall passivation. The short circuit current density (Jsc) increased from 14.7 mA/cm2 to 18.5 mA/cm2, open circuit voltage (Voc) improved from 0.87 V to 0.89 V, and the fill factor also slightly increased. Due to the sidewall of passivation of Al2O3, conversion efficiency of amorphous silicon solar cell increased by 29.07%. At the end, this research was a success to improve the efficiency of the amorphous silicon solar cell by adding sidewall passivation.