A Study on the Impact of PN-Junction Doping Concentration on the Efficiency of Monocrystalline Silicon Solar Cells

Elfiky, Shymaa Sabry Hamdan; Eliwa, Aref; Zahran, Mohamed; Kassem, Ahmed; Farghal, Ahmed

doi:10.21608/sej.2023.224272.1041

A Study on the Impact of PN-Junction Doping Concentration on the Efficiency of Monocrystalline Silicon Solar Cells

Document Type : Original research articles

Authors

¹ Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Sohag University, Sohag 82524,

² Joint National Egyptian-Chinese Renewable Energy laboratory, Sohag, Egypt

10.21608/sej.2023.224272.1041

Abstract

The process of pn junction formation is one of the fundamental steps in the manufacturing process of solar cells. It is the most important factor influencing the efficiency of solar cells. The aim of this research is to investigate the effect of different p-type (different boron concentrations) and n-type (different phosphorus concentrations) resistivity on the efficiency of monocrystalline silicon solar cells. The solar cells were fabricated using p-type silicon doped in boron at concentrations ranging from 6.61×10¹⁵ to 3.03×10¹⁶ cm^-3 and n-type silicon doped in phosphorous at concentrations ranging from 5×10¹⁹ to 10²¹ cm^-3. Then, the effect of boron and phosphorus concentration on solar cell efficiency was investigated. It is found that an increase in the concentration of boron or phosphorus results in an increase in the recombination rate and thus a decrease in the efficiency of the solar cell by reducing the short-circuit current (I_sc). The best efficiency of 18.59 % was obtained by using boron doped silicon with a resistivity of 2.16 Ω.cm, corresponding to 6.61×10¹⁵ cm^-3 boron concentration and n- type sheet resistance 43.5 Ω/□ , corresponding to 10^20 cm^-3 phosphorus concentration. As the study was carried out on a range of resistivities values (0.54 Ω.cm to 2.16 Ω.cm) , a range of sheet resistance (10 Ω/□ to 77 Ω/□).

Highlights

The research sheds light on the manufacturing of solar cells, and the stage of formation of the junction was chosen as the most important stage of manufacturing, and it was taken care of and the affect of its impact on the efficiency of the solar cell was clarified.

Keywords