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Metastability in hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon solar cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2011

Guozhen Yue ,
Baojie Yan ,
Gautam Ganguly ,
Jeffrey Yang  and
Subhendu Guha
Guozhen Yue*
Affiliation:
United Solar Ovonic LLC, Troy, Michigan 48084
Baojie Yan
Affiliation:
United Solar Ovonic LLC, Troy, Michigan 48084
Gautam Ganguly
Affiliation:
United Solar Ovonic LLC, Troy, Michigan 48084
Jeffrey Yang
Affiliation:
United Solar Ovonic LLC, Troy, Michigan 48084
Subhendu Guha
Affiliation:
United Solar Ovonic LLC, Troy, Michigan 48084
*
a) Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: [email protected] This paper was selected as the Outstanding Meeting Paper for the 2006 MRS Spring Meeting Symposium A Proceedings, Vol. 910.
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Abstract

Light-induced metastability in hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) single-junction solar cells was studied systematically. First, we observed no light-induced degradation when the photon energy was lower than the band gap of the amorphous phase; degradation occurred when the energy was higher than the band gap in the amorphous phase. The light-induced degradation could be annealed away at an elevated temperature. We concluded that the light-induced defect generation occurred mainly in the amorphous phase. Second, forward current injection did not degrade the nc-Si:H cell performance. However, a reverse bias during light soaking enhanced the degradation. Third, the nc-Si:H cells made with an optimized hydrogen dilution profile showed minimal degradation although these cells had a high amorphous volume fraction. This indicated that the amorphous volume fraction was not the only factor determining the degradation. Other factors also played important roles in the nc-Si:H stability.

Keywords

DefectsElectronic structureSi
Type
Outstanding Meeting Paper
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 22 , Issue 5 , May 2007 , pp. 1128 - 1137
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2007

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