An Approach Towards Low Cost III-Nitride GaN/InGaN Solar Cell: the Use of Si/SiCN Substrate

Abstract

In this article, GaN/ InxGa1\u2009−\u2009xN based solar cell with Si substrate and SiCN buffer layer is investigated with the help of modeling and simulation. The performance of the designed device is best suited for the low cost photovoltaic applications in terms of high open-circuit voltage (VOC) of 2.53 V, short-circuit current density (JSC) of 2.83 mA/cm2, Fill Factor (FF) of 76.98% and power conversion efficiency (η) of 4.02% under air mass (AM) 1.5G illumination. The mole fraction of Indium content in InxGa1\u2009−\u2009xN plays a significant role in increasing the efficiency and open circuit voltage for improved device performance. A commercial Silvaco TCAD is used for simulation of GaN/InxGa1\u2009−\u2009xN based solar cell for extracting the energy band gap, short-circuit current density, power (P) and the power conversion efficiency with different design parameters.