Effect of germanium fraction on the effective minority carrier lifetime in thin film amorphous-Si/crystalline-Si1xGex/crystalline-Si heterojunction solar cells
The effect of germanium fraction on the effective minority carrier lifetime (τeff) for epitaxial Si1-xGex layers is extracted using measurements on amorphous(a) Si(n+)/crystalline(c)-Si1-xGex(p)/crystalline(c)-Si(p+) heterojunction solar cells with x = 0.25, 0.41 and 0.56. The τeff extracted for Si0...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
AIP Publishing LLC
2013-05-01
|
| Series: | AIP Advances |
| Online Access: | http://link.aip.org/link/doi/10.1063/1.4805078 |
| Summary: | The effect of germanium fraction on the effective minority carrier lifetime (τeff) for epitaxial Si1-xGex layers is extracted using measurements on amorphous(a) Si(n+)/crystalline(c)-Si1-xGex(p)/crystalline(c)-Si(p+) heterojunction solar cells with x = 0.25, 0.41 and 0.56. The τeff extracted for Si0.75Ge0.25 is ∼1 μs, decreasing to ∼ 40 ns for Si0.44Ge0.56. In addition, the band-gap voltage offset (Woc) increases from 0.5 eV for Si to 0.65 eV for 56% Ge indicating an increase in non-radiative recombination consistent with the reduction in effective lifetime. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2158-3226 |