HETEROJUNCTIONS IN PHOTOVOLTAIC APPLICATIONS

Numerical simulations on silicon solar cells with heteroemitter layers made from various wide-gap semiconductors are described and the depen dence of the I-V curves on the band offsets is explained. The main adv antage utilizing heteroemitters on silicon is the chance for an improv ed response in the blue region of the solar spectrum which may achieve an increase of the total photocurrent up to 10%. Experimental results on test solar cells with mu c-Si, ZnO, and SIPOS heteroemitters are p resented and compared with these predictions.