Title :
Role of film thickness in amorphous silicon solar cell characterization
Author :
McElheny, J. ; Nag, S.S. ; Fonash, S.J. ; Wronski, C.R. ; Bennett, M. ; Arya, R.
Author_Institution :
Center for Electron. Mater. & Process., Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA, USA
Abstract :
The collection efficiencies of hydrogenated amorphous silicon Schottky barrier structures, were measured as a function of thickness in both the annealed and light-soaked states. It was found that the spectral dependence of collection efficiency is virtually independent of light-soaking in structures whose thickness is comparable to that of typical solar cells. However, these effects are clearly discernible on thick cell structures and offer a powerful tool to obtain information about carrier generation and recombination kinetics associated with the intrinsic material and interface effects. The results are discussed using a model based on first principles which makes it possible to investigate the effects of film thickness on material and solar cell characterization
Keywords :
amorphous semiconductors; elemental semiconductors; hydrogen; semiconductor thin films; silicon; solar cells; Schottky barrier structures; amorphous Si:H solar cells; carrier generation; collection efficiencies; interface effects; intrinsic material; light-soaking; recombination kinetics; semiconductor thin films; Amorphous silicon; Annealing; Degradation; Optical films; Photovoltaic cells; Schottky barriers; Semiconductor films; Stability; Thickness measurement; Wavelength measurement;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1990., Conference Record of the Twenty First IEEE
Conference_Location :
Kissimmee, FL
DOI :
10.1109/PVSC.1990.111851
