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The Effect of Hydrogen Dilution Near The P/I Interface Region of A-Si:H P-I-N Solar Cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2011

C. N. Yeh
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3255
Daxing Han
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3255
Qi Wang
Affiliation:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado 80401
Y. Q. Xu
Affiliation:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado 80401
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Abstract

It is known that the a-Si:H solar cell with H-diluted i-layer (p-iH-n) exhibits a better stability under AMI light exposure than the non-diluted solar cell (p-i-n). Recently, Wang et al. found that the a-Si:H solar cell when inserting a thin H-diluted i-layer between the p- and the i-layer (p-iH-i-n) shows the same stability as a p-iH-n solar cell after 600 hours light soaking. It was suggested that the stabilization of a H-diluted a-Si:H solar cell is through controlling its p/i interface. In this work, we report the electroluminescence (EL) measurements of a-Si:H solar cells with p-iH-n, p-iH-i-n and p-i-n structures made in identical conditions except the difference in H-dilution processing. EL spectra in a wide range of temperature indicate that the defect-band emission can be controlled through a thin H-diluted i-layer near the p/i interface region, but the main-band emission depends more on the diluted i-layer thickness. According to the temperature dependence of the EL efficiency, the valence band-tail width of the active layer in the p-iH-i-n cell is estimated to be about 13% broader than that in the p-iH-n cell. From the total EL intensity as a function of the forward current density, the recombination processes at room temperature are suggested to be a monomolecular type for p-iH-wn, p-iH-i-n, and p-i-n structures.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1996

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