Influence of the Schottky barrier height on the silicon solar cells

With the recent introduction of ion implantation in the photovoltaic industry, it is now easier to carefully tailor the emitter doping profile. However the metallization layout should be optimized in the same time, as they are closely linked via the metal/silicon contact resistivity. In this work, an advanced co-optimization procedure allows finding out the influence of the Schottky barrier height on the metal grid design and the optimal doping profile. The theoretical electrical properties of a 2 × 2 cm2 ideal silicon solar cell are also computed for each optimal combination. According to this work, the maximal achievable efficiency decreases from 26.2 % to 25.3 % if the Schottky barrier height increases from 0.5 eV to 0.9 e V.