Effect of junction depth on the performance of a diffused n⁺p silicon solar cell

A detailed numerical analysis of the influence of the junction depth on the performance of a diffused n+p silicon solar cell is presented. The analysis includes the effects of Fermi-Dirac statistics, band gap narrowing, a finite surface recombination velocity and the built-in field due to the impurity profile. The recombination mechanism plays a dominant role in the performance of the solar cell. The ideality factor, "a", varies from 1.006 for 0.1 μm junction depth, to 1.0135 for 2 μm junction depth. The saturation current density, Jo increases with the junction depth showing that the recombination increases in the heavily doped diffused layer of the device. The variation of the light generated current, JL, the open-circuit voltage, Voc, efficiency, η and the ideality factor, "a" are reported and analysed. © 1981.