Influence of WO3-Based Antireflection Coatings on Current Density in Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells

Antireflection coatings (ARCs) with an indium thin oxide (ITO) layer on silicon heterojunction solar cells (SHJ) have garnered significant attention, which is due to their potential for increasing current density (J(sc)) and enhancing reliability. We propose an additional tungsten trioxide (WO3) layer on the ITO/Si structure in this paper in order to raise the J(sc) and demonstrate the influence on the SHJ solar cell. First, we simulate the J(sc) characteristics for the proposed WO3/ITO/Si structure in order to analyze J(sc) depending on the thickness of WO3 using an OPAL 2 simulator. As a result, the OPAL 2 simulation shows an increase in J(sc) of 0.65 mA/cm(2) after the 19 nm WO3 deposition on ITO with a doping concentration of 6.1 x 10(20)/cm(2). We then fabricate the proposed samples and observe an improved efficiency of 0.5% with an increased J(sc) of 0.75 mA/cm(2) when using a 20 nm thick WO3 layer on the SHJ solar cell. The results indicate that the WO3 layer can be a candidate to improve the efficiency of SHJ solar cells with a low fabrication cost.

Automated summary

Antireflection coatings (ARCs) with an additional tungsten trioxide (WO3) layer on silicon heterojunction solar cells (SHJ) have been proposed to increase current density (J(sc)) and enhance efficiency. Simulation and experimental results show that a 20 nm thick WO3 layer can improve J(sc) by 0.75 mA/cm(2) and efficiency by 0.5% in SHJ solar cells, suggesting that WO3 can be a low-cost candidate for improving the efficiency of SHJ solar cells.