Amorphous-silicon solar cells. Quarterly report No. 4, 1 July 1981-30 September 1981

Technical Report · Sat Oct 31 23:00:00 EST 1981

OSTI ID:5489594

Carlson, D. E.; Crandall, R. S.; Dresner, J.; Goldstein, B.; Hanak, J. J.; Moore, A. R.; Redfield, D.; Schade, H. E.; Weakliem, H. A.

Modeling of the free carrier space charge in a-Si:H p-i-n solar cells shows that significant field distortion will occur when the i layer is thicker than 1 ..mu..m. Composition analyses have been performed on undoped a-Si:H films that exhibit diffusion lengths greater than 0.5 ..mu..m. The SIMS data gave the following impurity concentrations: oxygen (< 2.6 x 10/sup 19/cm/sup -3/), nitrogen (< 1.4 x 10/sup 19/cm/sup -3/), carbon (< 8.5 x 10/sup 18/cm/sup -3/), chlorine (< 3.5 x 10/sup 16/cm/sup -3/), boron (< 10/sup 17/cm/sup -3/), and phosphorus (< 10/sup 16/cm/sup -3/). The a-Si:H films typically contain between 6.5 and 9.0 at. % hydrogen. Hole mobilities as large as 0.2 cm/sup 2//V-s have been measured in p type a-Si:H (620-ppM boron) using the Hall effect. Conversion efficiencies as high as 5.8% have been obtained in p-i-n cells fabricated with a microcrystalline p layer (maximum value of V/sub oc/ was 920 mV). Surface photovoltage profiling has been used to show that the n/i interface does not contribute to the open-circuit voltage of cells with the structure IT0/p-i-n/steel. For cells with the structure Al/Ti/n-i-p/cermet/IT0/glass it is found that the more stable cells have a relatively large contribution to the built-in potential from the n/i interface and relatively low space-charge densities in the i layer.

• Research Organization: RCA Labs., Princeton, NJ (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-77CH00178
• OSTI ID: 5489594
• Report Number(s): SERI/PR-0-9372-4; ON: DE82005675
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140501* -- Solar Energy Conversion-- Photovoltaic Conversion
AMORPHOUS STATE
ANNEALING
CARRIER MOBILITY
CHARGE CARRIERS
CHARGE DENSITY
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
DEPOSITION
DIFFUSION LENGTH
DIMENSIONS
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
EFFICIENCY
ELECTRIC FIELDS
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
ELEMENTS
EQUIPMENT
FABRICATION
FILMS
HALL EFFECT
HEAT TREATMENTS
HOLES
HYDROGEN
IMPURITIES
INTERFACES
LENGTH
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MOBILITY
NONMETALS
PERFORMANCE
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
SEMIMETALS
SILICON
SILICON SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
STABILITY