Analysis of Fill Factor Losses in a-Si and a-SiGe Alloy Solar Cells Using a New Technique

Abstract

ABSTRACTA new technique to diagnose fill factor losses occurring in single-junction amorphous silicon (a-Si) alloy based nip solar cells has been explored. The method consists of the measurements of the fill factor of the device under blue and red light illumination and the current-collection loss obtained from the ratio of the quantum efficiency versus wavelength spectra at zero and reverse bias. Normally, the losses are higher at low and high wavelengths. It has been observed that there is a strong correlation between the values of the blue and red fill factors and the current collection losses at the pli interfaces and the bulk of the i-layer, respectively. The losses have been attributed to back diffusion of carriers at the pli interface and to the bulk of the i-Layer. There is a sensitive dependence between these losses and the texture of the substrate: textured substrates lead to higher losses compared to specular substrates. The technique has been used successfully to enhance the values of the red, blue, and AM 1.5 fill factors of both a-Si and amorphous silicon-germanium (a-SiGe) alloy single-junction cells on back reflectors by the optimization of device fabrication parameters. The optimized cells on textured back reflectors exhibit reduced losses. The paper presents an analysis of the experimental results.