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A COMPARISON OF MODEL CALCULATIONS AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS ON THE PHOTOLUMINESCENCE ENERGY AND OPEN CIRCUIT VOLTAGE OF µc-Si:H SOLAR CELLS

T. Merdzhanova1,2,* , R. Carius1, S. Klein1, F. Finger1, D. Dimova-Malinovska2

Affiliation

  1. Institut für Photovoltaik, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, 52425 Jülich, Germany
  2. Central Laboratory for Solar Energy and New Energy Sources, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 72 Tzarigradsko Chaussee, 1784 Sofia, Bulgaria

Abstract

A simple model is proposed to calculate photoluminescence (PL) spectra and open circuit voltages (Voc) in thin film p-i-n microcrystalline silicon (µc-Si:H) solar cells with different structural compositions, as a function of temperature. By using a new technique, namely voltage-modulated PL on solar cells, experimental data are obtained that can be directly compared with the model. The model is based on the distributions of electrons and holes in quasi-equilibrium conditions. Recombination between the two distributions determines the PL band (energy and width of the spectrum). A symmetrical density of states distribution (DOS) described by a superposition of a DOS like that in c-Si and band tail states for the conduction and valence bands is assumed. The best agreement between the model calculations and experimental results for two solar cells with different structural properties is obtained by using an Eo ≈ 0.031eV for the slope of both exponential band tail states..

Keywords

Photoluminescence, Computer simulations, µc-Si:H, Solar cells, Silicon.

Submitted at: Dec. 9, 2004
Accepted at: Jan. 26, 2005

Citation

T. Merdzhanova, R. Carius, S. Klein, F. Finger, D. Dimova-Malinovska, A COMPARISON OF MODEL CALCULATIONS AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS ON THE PHOTOLUMINESCENCE ENERGY AND OPEN CIRCUIT VOLTAGE OF µc-Si:H SOLAR CELLS, Journal of Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials Vol. 7, Iss. 1, pp. 485-489 (2005)