Observation of Photogating Effect in Microcrystalline Silicon Solar Cells and its Contribution to Device Optimization

H.LI; F.A.RUBINELLI; J.K.RATH; R.E.I.SCHROPP

Dresden, Alemania

Conferencia; 21th European Solar Energy Conference; 2006

WIP-Renewable Energies, European Commission - DG Joint Research Centre, The European Commission

A photogating effect is observed under strong blue bias light in microcrystalline silicon solar cells with an i-layer made by hot-wire CVD technique. Computer simulations point out that this is related to a low internal electrical field due to electronic defects in the i-layer. By improving the i-layer quality, this effect is reduced and an efficiency of 8.52% is reached for a µc-Si: H n‑i‑p cell.