Study of MoS2 Deposited by ALD on c-Si, Towards the Development of MoS2/c-Si Heterojunction Photovoltaics

Silicon-based heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells demonstrate high efficiencies over their homojunction counterparts, revealing the potential of such technologies. We present here the first steps towards the development of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2)/c-silicon heterojunction solar cells, consisting of a preliminary study of the MoS2 material and numerical device simulations of MoS2/Si heterojunction solar cells, using SILVACO ATLAS. Through the optical and structural characterization of MoS2/SiO2/Si samples, we found a significant sensitivity of the MoS2 to ambient oxidation. Optical ellipsometry showed a bandgap of 1.87 eV for a 7 monolayer thick MoS2 sample, suitable for the targeted application. Finally, we briefly introduce a device simulation and show that the MoS2/Si heterojunction could lead to a gain in quantum efficiency, especially in the region with short wavelengths, compared with a standard a-Si/c-Si solar cell.

Automated summary

This study presents the development of MoS2/c-silicon heterojunction solar cells and examines the characteristics of MoS2 through experiments and numerical simulations. The results show that MoS2 is sensitive to oxidation and has a bandgap suitable for the targeted application. The MoS2/Si heterojunction could potentially improve quantum efficiency compared to standard solar cells.