Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T07:35:23.959Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Internal Electric Field Profile of A-Si:H And A-Sige:H Solar Cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2011

Xinhua Geng
Affiliation:
Dept of Phys & Astronomy, Univ of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3255, USA
Lei Wu
Affiliation:
Dept of Phys & Astronomy, Univ of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3255, USA
Kent Price
Affiliation:
Dept of Phys & Astronomy, Univ of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3255, USA
Xunming Deng
Affiliation:
Energy Conversion Devices, Inc., 1675 West Maple Rd. Troy, Michigan 48084, USA
Qi Wang
Affiliation:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO 80401, USA.
Daxing Han
Affiliation:
Dept of Phys & Astronomy, Univ of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3255, USA
Get access

Abstract

By using the transient-null-current method, we have measured the internal electric field profiles Ei(x) near the p/i interface for two groups of solar cells: (a) a-Si:H p-i-n solar cells with varied i-layer thicknesses, and (b) a-SiGe:H cells with varied Ge content. When using an exponential function of Ei(x) to fit the experimental results, we obtained the field strength at the p/i interface E0, the screening length Lo, and the density of defect states Nd in the i-layer. The thinner the i-layer, the stronger the field strength obtained. For i-layer thickness increasing from 0.1 to 0.5 μm, the field strength E0 decreases from 1.15×105 to 2.0×104 V/cm; Lo decreases from 0.89 to 0.14 μm; and Nd is 3-4×1016 (cm3eV)−1. For the a-SiGe:H cells, as the Ge content increases from 40 to 55 %, E0 increases from 9.3×104 to 1.2×105 V/cm. The correlation of the internal electric field parameters with the cell‘s performance is discussed.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1 Yang, J., Banerjee, A., and Guha, S., Amorphouse and Microcrystalline Silicon Technology MRS Symp. Proc. 467, edited by Hack, M., Schiff, E. A., Schropp, R., and Shimizu, I., 693 (1997).Google Scholar
2 Hack, M. and Shur, M., J. Appl. Phys.58, 997 and 1656 (1985); 55, 4413 (1984).Google Scholar
3 Arch, J.K., Rubinelli, F.A., Hou, J.-Y., and Fonash, S. J., J. Appl. Phys., 69, 7057 (1991).Google Scholar
4 Datta, T. and Silver, M., Appl. Phys. Lett. 38, 903 (1981).Google Scholar
5 Konenkamp, R., Muramatsu, S, loth, H., Matsubara, S., Appl. Phys. Lett., 57, 478 (1990).Google Scholar
6 Street, R. A., Phys. Rev B. 27, 4924 (1983).Google Scholar
7 Han, Daxing, Wang, Keda, Yeh, C.N., and Wang, Qi, Amorphouse and Microcrystalline Silicon Technology, MRS Symp. Proc. 467, edited by Hack, M., Schiff, E. A., Schropp, R., and Shimizu, I., 729 (1997).Google Scholar
8 Stutzmann, M., J. Appl. Phys. 66 569 (1989).Google Scholar
9 Hegedus, S. S., Salzman, N., and Fagen, E., J. Appl. Phys. 63, 5126 (1988).Google Scholar