skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Hump-shaped internal collection efficiency of degraded a-Si:H {ital p-i-n} solar cells

Journal Article · · Journal of Applied Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.365788· OSTI ID:531748
; ;  [1];  [2]
  1. Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Trzaska 25, SI-1000 Ljubljana (Slovenia)
  2. Corporate Research and Development, Siemens AG, Otto-Hahn-Ring 6, D-81739 Muenchen (Germany)

Measured internal collection efficiency (ICE) characteristics of annealed and degraded a-Si:H p-i-n solar cells were used for an analysis of their internal behavior. Using the numerical simulator ASPIN, simulations were performed in order to fit and explain pronounced hump-shaped voltage-dependent ICE characteristics of degraded structures under weak short-wavelength illumination. Agreement with measured ICE characteristics for a degraded cell was obtained only if in addition to the introduction of light-induced dangling bond defect states, their capture cross sections were also increased, in particular the capture cross section for the charged defect states were increased. This caused a change in the occupancy of defect states at the p-i interface and front part of the i layer under forward biases. Consequently, the electric field in the front part of the cell was sustained under higher forward biases, resulting in recovery of the ICE. {copyright} {ital 1997 American Institute of Physics.}

OSTI ID:
531748
Journal Information:
Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 82, Issue 2; Other Information: PBD: Jul 1997
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English