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Band Discontinuity Effect on a-Si:H and a-SiGe:H Solar Cells

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Abstract

The electrical bandgap of microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) p type layers used in a-Si:H alloy solar cells and the band edge discontinuities between μc-Si:H and a-Si:H alloys have been determined by internal photoemission measurements. The bandgap of μc-Si:H is found to be in the range of 1.50 to 1.57 eV, and the discontinuities at the conduction and the valence band edges are 0 to 0.07 and 0.26 to 0.35 eV, respectively. Use of these parameters in the numerical simulation of single-junction a-Si:H and a-SiGe:H alloy solar cells is found to predict experimental results of solar cell performance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. United Solar Systems Corp., 1100 West Maple Road, Troy, 48084, MI, USA

    X. Xu, A. Banerjee, J. Yang & S. Guha

  2. Department of Electrical Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, 08544, NJ, USA

    K. Vasanth & S. Wagner

Authors
  1. X. Xu
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  2. A. Banerjee
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  3. J. Yang
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  4. S. Guha
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  5. K. Vasanth
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  6. S. Wagner
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Xu, X., Banerjee, A., Yang, J. et al. Band Discontinuity Effect on a-Si:H and a-SiGe:H Solar Cells. MRS Online Proceedings Library 377, 651–656 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1557/PROC-377-651

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/PROC-377-651

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