Title :
Light-induced degradation of very low resistivity multi-crystalline silicon solar cells
Author :
De Wolf, Stefaan ; Choulat, P. ; Szlufcik, J. ; Perichaud, I. ; Martinuzzi, S. ; Hassler, C. ; Krumbe, W.
Author_Institution :
IMEC, Leuven, Belgium
Abstract :
An Jsc degradation under illumination has been measured for finished solar cells processed from multicrystalline B-doped Si-substrates with resistivities below 0.1 Ω cm. This phenomenon has been studied as function of the different applied processing steps and as function of the boron- and oxygen-concentration of the substrate. The observed effect is likely related to a reversible formation of boron-oxygen complexes, introducing traps in the bandgap. This behaviour is similar to what has been reported in literature for carrier lifetime instabilities of 1 Ω cm Cz-Si. The degradation was found to be fully reversible by a low-temperature anneal at about 200°C, provided that the degradation causing defects have not been passivated by hydrogenation
Keywords :
boron; carrier lifetime; elemental semiconductors; energy gap; semiconductor device measurement; semiconductor device testing; semiconductor doping; silicon; solar cells; 1 ohmcm; 200 C; Jsc degradation; Si; Si:B; applied processing steps; bandgap traps; carrier lifetime instabilities; defects; hydrogenation passivation; light-induced degradation; low-temperature anneal; very-low resistivity multi-crystalline Si:B solar cells; Annealing; Boron; Conductivity; Crystalline materials; Crystallization; Lighting; Photovoltaic cells; Purification; Silicon; Thermal degradation;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2000. Conference Record of the Twenty-Eighth IEEE
Conference_Location :
Anchorage, AK
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-5772-8
DOI :
10.1109/PVSC.2000.915751
