A computer model for the poly-Si thin film-related solar cells is established, with which the solar cells with the structure of single junction poly-Si cell, a-Si/poly-Si tandem cell and a-Si/ poly-Si/poly-Si triple cell are simulated. The results indicate that the practical structure for poly-Si-related solar cell is a-Si/poly-Si/poly-Si triple cell with the best matched thickness of 0.23/0.95/3 mum and with optical confinement structure, which has the highest simulated efficiency of 22.74%. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.