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Electroabsorption measurements and built-in potentials in amorphous silicon {ital p}{endash}{ital i}{endash}{ital n} solar cells

Journal Article · · Applied Physics Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.116840· OSTI ID:389242
; ;  [1]; ;  [2];  [3]
  1. Department of Physics, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13244-1130 (United States)
  2. United Solar Systems Corporation, 1100 West Maple Road, Troy, Michigan 48084 (United States)
  3. Energy Conversion Devices, Inc., 1675 West Maple Road, Troy, Michigan 48084 (United States)
We present a technique for using modulated electroabsorption measurements to determine the built-in potential in semiconductor heterojunction devices. The technique exploits a simple relationship between the second-harmonic electroabsorption signal and the capacitance of such devices. We apply this technique to hydrogenated amorphous silicon ({ital a}-Si:H)-based solar cells incorporating microcrystalline Si {ital p}{sup +} layers. For one set of cells with a conventional plasma-deposited intrinsic ({ital i}) layer we obtain a built-in potential of 0.98{plus_minus}0.04 V; for cells with an {ital i} layer deposited using strong hydrogen dilution we obtain 1.25{plus_minus}0.04 V. We speculate that interface dipoles between the {ital p}{sup +} and {ital i} layers significantly influence the built-in potential. {copyright} {ital 1996 American Institute of Physics.}
OSTI ID:
389242
Journal Information:
Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 20 Vol. 69; ISSN 0003-6951; ISSN APPLAB
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English