Determination of electron-diffusion length from photocurrent characteristics of the structure ITO/a-SiC:H(p-type)/a-Si:H/a-Si:H(n-type)/Pd

Abstract

In this study the electron diffusion length L n is determined from the relative spectral response of the photocurrent characteristics of the p/i/n sandwich structure ITO/a-SiC:H(p-type)/a-Si:H/a-Si:H(n-type)/Pd. The techniques used for the preparation of the a-Sic:H and a-Si:H amorphous films were glow-discharge and rf magnetron sputtering, respectively. The thickness of the p-type, intrinsic and n-type layer were 400 A, 7000 A and 600 A, respectively. The response of the short-circuit current density J sc was measured versus the photon energy hv at both constant light intensity and constant temperature. The electron diffusion length was found to be 0.31 μm by means of the method of Agarwala and Tewary. Although, in the case of single crystals many diffusion length measurements have been made, there are only few papers for amorphous silicon this films [1]. As it is well-known, the diffusion length of the charge carriers is the most important parameter from the point of view of solar cell applications [2]. In order to obtain a high efficiency in a solar cell all carriers created under illumination in the intrinsic layer should reach the electrodes [3]. In the case that the thickness of the intrinsic layer is much larger than the diffusion length, not all carriers can reach the electrodes and, accordingly, a low efficiency results [4]. On the other hand, carriers which reach the electrodes without thermalizing do not contribute to the photocurrent and finally the efficiency of the solar cell is negatively affected. In order to avoid such an effect to a large extent, the thickness of the amorphous layers in a p/i/n solar cell must be conveniently chosen compared to the diffusion length of the carriers. Here it is aimed to determine the electron diffusion length. In order to achieve this goal, the photocurrent characteristics of an ITO/a-SiC:H(p-type)/a-Si:H/a-Si:H(n-type)/Pd structure was measured versus the photon energy at constant light intensity and constant temperature. In order to determine the electron diffusion length, the method of Agarwala and Tewary [5] was utilized.