Degradation of the diode ideality factor of silicon n–p junctions

An investigation of the effects of bulk and interface degradation processes on the junction ideality factor is presented. The ideality factor is extracted from a description of the simulated current–voltage characteristics of the junction, using a double exponential model. The junction ideality factor appears as a sensitive parameter appropriate to characterize the effect of recombination losses and to quantify the magnitude of junction devices degradation.