Heterojunction solar cells (HJT), variously known as Silicon heterojunctions (SHJ) or Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin Layer (HIT), are a family of photovoltaic cell technologies based on a heterojunction formed between semiconductors with dissimilar band gaps.
Come let us explore more about them. These are also known as Silicon heterojunctions (SHJ) or Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin Layer (HIT) solar panels. These are a group of HJT solar cells that use advanced photovoltaic technology. Don’t be confused about what is heterojunction technology.
Silicon heterojunction (HJ) solar cells are one such passivated contact cell. HJ cells are typically formed with an n-type bulk between intrinsic amorphous silicon (a-Si) layers. The passivating contacts are then completed by a p-type doped a-Si layer for the hole contact and an n-type doped a-Si layer for the electron contact.
Passivating contactsin heterojunction (HJ) solar cells have shown great potential in reducing recombination losses, and thereby achieving high power conversion efficiencies in photovoltaic devices.
In the first design version of these solar cells, the heterojunction was formed by using the flat n-type crystalline silicon wafer with a thin layer of p-type amorphous hydrogenated silicon (a-Si:H) deposited on its surface . The efficiency of this structure reached 12.3%.
1. Crystalline Silicon (c-Si) – Conventional solar panels use them to build homojunction solar cells. They are of two types polycrystalline silicon and monocrystalline silicon. However, monocrystalline is the only one considered for HJT solar cells because of its better purity and efficiency. 2.