Excess currents in MINP-type solar cells

Journal Article · Mon Apr 01 00:00:00 EST 1985 · IEEE Trans. Electron Devices; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/T-ED.1985.22025· OSTI ID:5349148

Rau, B B; Anderson, W A; Banerjee, S; Han, M K

MINP silicon solar cells with up to 16.5-percent efficiency have been fabricated using an ion-implanted shallow n-layer followed by a 20-25 A insulator and low work-function metal grid. This design reduces surface recombination, suppresses dark current, and gives increased UV spectral response. Current-voltage data, in the dark and under AM1 illumination, have been taken from 90 to 375K for four different designs. These data lead to determination of the excess-current component which, in some cases, gives a linear semilogarithmic behavior over much of the voltage range and an ideality factor which increases with decreasing temperature. These trends suggest a current component governed by field emission at the MIS interface and on the solar-cell edges. Control of this current in other cells gave great improvement in efficiency. Much of this excess-current component is eliminated by careful attention to the edges of the solar cell, leaving a small field-emission component under the MIS contact. High-efficiency passivated N/P cells show a small recombination component of excess current.

• Research Organization: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, State University of New York at Buffalo, Amherst
• OSTI ID: 5349148
• Journal Information: IEEE Trans. Electron Devices; (United States), Vol. ED32:4
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
MIS SOLAR CELLS
FIELD EMISSION
PHOTOCURRENTS
SILICON SOLAR CELLS
DESIGN
EFFICIENCY
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
ILLUMINANCE
ION IMPLANTATION
LOW TEMPERATURE
MEDIUM TEMPERATURE
N-TYPE CONDUCTORS
P-TYPE CONDUCTORS
RECOMBINATION
SPECTRAL RESPONSE
TEMPERATURE EFFECTS
ULTRAVIOLET SPECTRA
CURRENTS
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
EMISSION
EQUIPMENT
MATERIALS
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SPECTRA
140501* - Solar Energy Conversion- Photovoltaic Conversion