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Published June 2013 | public
Book Section - Chapter

Experimental measurement of lateral transport in the inversion layer of silicon heterojunction solar cells

Abstract

We performed two experiments to measure lateral flow of photoexcited charge carriers near the heterointerface in silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells. Using light beam methods, we probed current extraction differences between areas of varying intrinsic layer thickness and the effective cross section of junction defects. Both measurements demonstrated a strong bias voltage dependence of lateral transport and transport lengths of tens to hundreds of microns as bias approached operating voltages. Lateral carrier flow near the heterointerface is proposed as one of the reasons that SHJ solar cells are extremely sensitive to interfacial defects.

Additional Information

© 2013 IEEE. This material is based upon work supported in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of Energy (DOE) under NSF CA No. EEC-1041895. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of NSF or DOE. Z.C.H, A.D., S.D.W., and C.B. acknowledge support from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme, Axpo Naturstrom Fonds, and the Swiss Commission for Technology and Innovation. We gratefully acknowledge critical support and infrastructure provided for this work by the Kavli Nanoscience Institute at Caltech.

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 17, 2023