Fundamental limitations imposed by high doping on the performance of pn junction silicon solar cells

Fundamental limitations imposed on the performance of silicon junction solar cells by physical mechanisms accompanying high doping are described. The one-dimensional mechanisms divide into two broad categories: those associated with band-gap shrinkage and those associated with interband transition rates. By extending the traditional method of analysis and comparing with measurement, it is shown that the latter kind of mechanism dominates in determining the open-circuit voltage in a one-dimensional model of a 0.1 ohm-cm cell at 300 K. As an alternative dominant mechanism, a three-dimensional model involving thermodynamically stable clusters of impurities in the highly-doped diffused layer is suggested.