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Carrier drift-mobilities and solar cell models for amorphous and nanocrystalline silicon

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Abstract

Hole drift mobilities in hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) and nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) are in the range of 10-3 to 1 cm2/Vs at room-temperature. These low drift mobilities establish corresponding hole mobility limits to the power generation and useful thicknesses of the solar cells. The properties of as-deposited a-Si:H nip solar cells are close to their hole mobility limit, but the corresponding limit has not been examined for nc-Si:H solar cells. We explore the predictions for nc-Si:H solar cells based on parameters and values estimated from hole drift-mobility and related measurements. The indicate that the hole mobility limit for nc-Si:H cells corresponds to an optimum intrinsic-layer thickness of 2-3 µm, whereas the best nc-Si:H solar cells (10% conversion efficiency) have thicknesses around 2 µm.

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  1. Department of Physics, Syracuse University, Syracuse, 13244-1130, NY, USA

    E. A. Schiff

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Schiff, E.A. Carrier drift-mobilities and solar cell models for amorphous and nanocrystalline silicon. MRS Online Proceedings Library 1153, 1501 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1557/PROC-1153-A15-01

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