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Band Discontinuity Effect on a-Si:H and a-SiGe:H Solar Cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

X. Xu
Affiliation:
United Solar Systems Corp., 1100 West Maple Road, Troy, MI 48084
A. Banerjee
Affiliation:
United Solar Systems Corp., 1100 West Maple Road, Troy, MI 48084
J. Yang
Affiliation:
United Solar Systems Corp., 1100 West Maple Road, Troy, MI 48084
S. Guha
Affiliation:
United Solar Systems Corp., 1100 West Maple Road, Troy, MI 48084
K. Vasanth
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544
S. Wagner
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544
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Abstract

The electrical bandgap of microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) p type layers used in a-Si:H alloy solar cells and the band edge discontinuities between μc-Si:H and a-Si:H alloys have been determined by internal photoemission measurements. The bandgap of μc-Si:H is found to be in the range of 1.50 to 1.57 eV, and the discontinuities at the conduction and the valence band edges are 0 to 0.07 and 0.26 to 0.35 eV, respectively. Use of these parameters in the numerical simulation of single-junction a-Si:H and a-SiGe:H alloy solar cells is found to predict experimental results of solar cell performance.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1995

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References

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