Three-dimensional optical multi-scale modelling of silicon hetero-junction solar cells

Silicon hetero-junction (SHJ) solar cell is one of the technologies that has promising characteristics. At Forschungszentrum Jülich, the concept of SHJ solar cell with the usage of hydrogenated amorphous and microcrystalline silicon and alloys for thin-film layer is investigated. Such layers can improve the solar cell efficiency due to their lower optical losses. In order to understand the process inside the device, it is important to be able to simulate it. The main issue for SHJ solar cells is the multi-scale of the device. In this thesis, SHJ solar cells will be optically simulated with the combination of two methods: transfer matrix method (TMM) for thin-film layers, and Raytracing for the bulk layer. In this work, results for flat and textured device will be presented. Different texture geometries at the front side of the structure are regarded, and additionally pyramidal back texture will be observed. Moreover, the implementation of nanoimprinted pyramids of SiO2 at the front side will be analyzed