Rapid initial light-induced degradation of multicrystalline silicon solar cells

B-doped mc-Si solar cells with different positions of the ingot are used to investigate the initial rapid light-induced degradation of cell performance. Efficiencies of solar cells from the bottom of the ingot with resistivity of 1.64 /spl Omega//spl middot/cm and oxygen concentration of 0.48 ppma degrade to about 3% of its initial values. Illumination with light intensities between 1 to 100 mW/cm/sup 2/ is carried out. The cell characteristics degrade rapidly within the first 30 min under 100 mW/cm/sup 2/ illumination. Degradation curves of relative efficiencies under different illumination intensities are similar to those obtained in Cz-Si solar cells suggesting the correlation of a boron-oxygen complex as a responsible metastable defect for light-induced degradation.