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Metastability in hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon solar cells

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Abstract

Light-induced metastability in hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si∶:H) single-junction solar cells was studied systematically. First, we observed no light-induced degradation when the photon energy was lower than the band gap of the amorphous phase; degradation occurred when the energy was higher than the band gap in the amorphous phase. The light-induced degradation could be annealed away at an elevated temperature. We concluded that the light-induced defect generation occurred mainly in the amorphous phase. Second, forward current injection did not degrade the nc-Si∶:H cell performance. However, a reverse bias during light soaking enhanced the degradation. Third, the nc-Si∶:H cells made with an optimized hydrogen dilution profile showed minimal degradation although these cells had a high amorphous volume fraction. This indicated that the amorphous volume fraction was not the only factor determining the degradation. Other factors also played important roles in the nc-Si∶:H stability.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. United Solar Ovonic LLC, Troy, Michigan, 48084, USA

    Guozhen Yue, Baojie Yan, Gautam Ganguly, Jeffrey Yang & Subhendu Guha

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  1. Guozhen Yue
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  2. Baojie Yan
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  3. Gautam Ganguly
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  4. Jeffrey Yang
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  5. Subhendu Guha
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Correspondence to Guozhen Yue.

Additional information

Papers in this section are based on submissions to the MRS Symposium Proceedings that were selected by Symposium Organizers as the outstanding paper. Upon selection, authors are invited to submit their research results to Journal of Materials Research. These papers are subject to the same peer review and editorial standards as all other JMR papers. This is another way by which the Materials Research Society recognizes high quality papers presented at its meetings.

This paper was selected as the Outstanding Meeting Paper for the 2006 MRS Spring Meeting Symposium A Proceedings, Vol. 910.

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Yue, G., Yan, B., Ganguly, G. et al. Metastability in hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon solar cells. Journal of Materials Research 22, 1128–1137 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2007.0144

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2007.0144

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