Hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (pc-Si:H) has superior properties than hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) but its photo conversion efficiency is lower than a-Si:H. This may be due to lack of understanding of basic structural parameters of pc-Si:H solar cells. Optimization of basic structural parameters such as band gap, thickness of p-, i- and n-layers, acceptor concentration (N-a) and donor concentration (N-d) can help improving efficiency of pc-Si:H solar cells. We report the optimization of these structural parameters using AFORS-HET simulation software and the optimized values of band gap of p-, i- and n-layers are found to be 1.5 eV, 1.4 eV and 1.5 eV and their thicknesses are found to be 5 nm, 2000 nm and 20 nm, respectively. The optimization of values of N-a and N-d are also performed and highest efficiency of similar to 17% is realized at N-a and N-d of 10(20) cm(-3). This study will be useful to solve the issues associated with existing pc-Si:H solar cell technology and may help fabricating high efficiency pc-Si:H solar cells. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.