Grain boundary modeling and characterization of thin-film silicon solar cells

Author

Sproul, A.B. ; Edmiston, S.A. ; Puzzer, T. ; Heiser, G. ; Wenham, S.R. ; Green, M.A. ; Young, T.L.

Author_Institution

Centre for Photovoltaic Devices & Syst., New South Wales Univ., Sydney, NSW, Australia

fYear

1996

fDate

13-17 May 1996

Firstpage

549

Lastpage

552

Abstract

An analytical model is developed to describe recombination currents arising from recombination at grain boundaries (GBs) in the depletion region of a p-n junction solar cell. Grain boundaries are modeled as having a single energy level in the energy gap, and partial occupancy of these states gives rise to a charge on the GB. The analytical model is compared to a complete numerical simulation package (DESSIS) and found to be in good agreement. Additionally, cross sectional EBIC images of a multilayer device containing vertical GBs are presented. Results derived from an analytical model are compared qualitatively to the experimental data and found to give good agreement

Keywords

EBIC; electron-hole recombination; elemental semiconductors; energy gap; grain boundaries; p-n junctions; semiconductor materials; semiconductor thin films; silicon; solar cells; DESSIS; Si; Si solar cells; cross sectional EBIC images; depletion region; energy gap; grain boundary modeling; multilayer device; numerical simulation package; p-n junction solar cell; recombination currents; single energy level; thin-film silicon solar cells; vertical grain boundaries; Analytical models; Energy states; Grain boundaries; Nonhomogeneous media; Numerical simulation; P-n junctions; Packaging; Photovoltaic cells; Semiconductor thin films; Silicon;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1996., Conference Record of the Twenty Fifth IEEE

Conference_Location

Washington, DC

ISSN

0160-8371

Print_ISBN

0-7803-3166-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.1996.564065

Filename

564065