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Published January 2014 | public
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Scanning Laser-Beam-Induced Current Measurements of Lateral Transport Near-Junction Defects in Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells

Deceglie, Michael G.
Emmer, Hal S.
Holman, Zachary C.
Descoeudres, Antoine
De Wolf, Stefaan ORCID icon
Ballif, Christophe ORCID icon
Atwater, Harry A. ORCID icon
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Abstract

We report the results of scanning laser-beam-induced current (LBIC) measurements on silicon heterojunction solar cells that indicate the length scale over which photogenerated carriers are sensitive to local defects at the amorphous silicon/crystalline silicon heterojunction interface. The defects were intentionally created with focused ion beam irradiation, enabling us to study how defects at a predefined and known location affect carrier collection and transport in neighboring regions where the device remains pristine. The characteristic length scale over which carriers in the pristine areas of the device are vulnerable to loss via recombination in the adjacent defective region increases to over 50 μm as the device is forward biased. For photocarriers generated near the amorphous-crystalline interface, LBIC measurements suggest that lateral transport in the near-junction inversion layer in the c-Si is an important transport mechanism.

Additional Information

© 2013 IEEE. Manuscript received February 28, 2013; revised October 10, 2013; accepted October 21, 2013. Date of publication November 20, 2013; date of current version December 16, 2013. The work of M. G. Deceglie, H. S. Emmer, and H. A. Atwater was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of Energy under Grant NSF CA No. EEC-1041895, the Caltech Taiwan Energy Exchange, and the Bay Area Photovoltaics Consortium. The work of Z. C. Holman, A. Descoeudres, S. De Wolf, and C. Ballif was supported by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme, Axpo Naturstrom Fonds, and the Swiss Commission for Technology and Innovation. The authors gratefully acknowledge insightful conversations with D. Young and S. Grover from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and with M. Filipič from the University of Ljubljana. They also gratefully acknowledge critical support and infrastructure provided for this work by the Kavli Nanoscience Institute at Caltech.

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