Influence of the Recombination Parameters at the Si/SiO2Interface on the Ideality of the Dark Current of High Efficiency Silicon Solar Cells

Abstract

Analytical study of surface recombination at the Si/SiO 2 interface is carried out in order to set the optimum surface conditions that result in minimum dark base current and maximum open circuit voltage in silicon solar cells. Recombination centers are assumed to form a continuum rather than to be at a single energy level in the energy gap. It is shown that the presence of a hump in the dark I-V characteristics of high efficiency PERL cells is due to the dark current transition from a high surface recombination regime at low voltage to a low surface recombination regime at high voltage. Successful fitting of reported dark I-V characteristics of a typical PERL cell is obtained with several possible combinations of surface parameters including equal electron and hole capture cross sections.