Substrate effects investigation on photovoltaic properties of n-ZnO/p-Si structure using two-dimensional numerical simulation

Silicon (Si) and zinc oxide (ZnO)-based heterojunctions are optoelectronic devices that promise to provide good photonic performance. The n-ZnO/p-Si structure is investigated using two-dimensional numerical simulation by ATLAS Silvaco software. This study investigated the effects of p-Si substrate parameters, such as thickness, acceptor concentration, and minority carrier lifetime, on the photonic performances of n-ZnO/p-Si heterojunction, taking into account the interface states and defects in the ZnO emitter layer for a real simulated structure. The simulation results showed that the optimal parameters that allow for better photonic performance are a p-Si thickness of 250 mu m, an acceptor concentration of 6 x 10(15) cm(-3), and a minority carrier lifetime of 10(-3) s. The obtained photovoltaic parameters are short circuit current density of J(SC) = 38.9 mA/cm(2), open circuit voltage of V-OC = 0.54 V, fill factor (FF) of FF = 59%, and conversion efficiency of eta = 12.36%. (C) 2022 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)