Analytical modelling of thin amorphous silicon-germanium solar cells

Author

Fortmann, C.M.

Author_Institution

Inst. of Energy Conversion, Delaware Univ., Newark, DE, USA

fYear

1991

fDate

7-11 Oct 1991

Firstpage

1265

Abstract

The a-SiGe:H material parameters pertinent to the operation of the red scavenging component of a multijunction solar cell are explored. Analytical modeling of p-i-n graded a-SiGe:H, a-Si:H solar cells is used to probe the relative minority carrier transport. These results are compared to film measurements including photo and dark conductivity as well as to capacitance measurements. The primary result is that the electron lifetime in a-SiGe:H is significantly longer than previously thought. This multifaceted analysis suggests directions for the attainment of efficient silicon-germanium devices

Keywords

Ge-Si alloys; amorphous semiconductors; capacitance measurement; carrier lifetime; electrical conductivity measurement; hydrogen; minority carriers; semiconductor device models; semiconductor materials; semiconductor thin films; solar cells; amorphous SiGe:H solar cells; analytical modeling; capacitance measurements; dark conductivity; electron lifetime; multijunction solar cell; photoconductivity; Amorphous materials; Analytical models; Capacitance measurement; Conducting materials; Conductive films; Germanium silicon alloys; PIN photodiodes; Photovoltaic cells; Probes; Silicon germanium;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1991., Conference Record of the Twenty Second IEEE

Conference_Location

Las Vegas, NV

Print_ISBN

0-87942-636-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.1991.169411

Filename

169411