Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 86 (2005) 517–526 Optimisation of interdigitated back contacts solar cells by two-dimensional numerical simulation O. Nichiporuk a,b , A. Kaminski a,Ã , M. Lemiti a , A. Fave a , V. Skryshevsky b a Laboratoire de Physique de la Matie`re, Inst. Nat. des Sci. Appliquees Lyon, UMR-CNRS5511, Baˆt. Blaise Pascal, 7 Avenue Jean Capelle, Villeurbanne Cedex 69621, France b Radiophysics Department, National Taras Shevchenko University, 64 Vladimirskaya, Kiev 01033, Ukraine Received 4 February 2004; accepted 7 September 2004 Available online 11 November 2004 Abstract In this paper we present the results of the simulation of interdigitated back contacts solar cell on thin-film (50 mm) silicon layer. The influence of several parameters (surface recombination rate, substrate thickness and type, diffusion length, device geometry, doping levels) on device characteristics are simulated using the accurate two-dimensional numerical simulator DESSIS that allows to optimise the cell design. r 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Interdigitated back contacts; Simulation; Thin film 1. Introduction A key question that remains in photovoltaic production is the cell cost. One of the promising ways of reducing this cost is by reducing the direct material cost, e.g. by the application of thin film technologies. Recently, the interest to interdigitated back contact solar cells (IBC SC) has been arisen due to several advantages of these cells [1–3]. Indeed, compared to the routine p–n junction solar cells, the IBC SC can have ARTICLE IN PRESS www.elsevier.com/locate/solmat 0927-0248/$-see front matter r 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.solmat.2004.09.010 Ã Corresponding author. Tel.: +33472748540; fax: +33472438531. E-mail addresses: chip@univ.kiev.ua (O. Nichiporuk), annek@insa-lyon.fr (A. Kaminski).