Silicon heterojunction solar cells consist of crystalline silicon (c-Si) wafers coated with doped/intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) bilayers for passivating-contact formation. Here, we unambiguously demonstrate that carrier injection either due to light soaking or (dark) forward-voltage bias increases the open circuit voltage and fill factor of finished cells, leading to a conversion efficiency gain of up to 0.3% absolute. This phenomenon contrasts markedly with the light-induced degradation known for thin-film a-Si:H solar cells. We associate our performance gain with an increase in surface passivation, which we find is specific to doped a-Si:H/c-Si structures. Our experiments suggest that this improvement originates from a reduced density of recombination-active interface states. To understand the time dependence of the observed phenomena, a kinetic model is presented.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
10 October 2016
Research Article|
October 11 2016
Light-induced performance increase of silicon heterojunction solar cells
Eiji Kobayashi;
Eiji Kobayashi
a)
1École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL),
Institute of Microengineering (IMT), Photovoltaics and Thin Film Electronics Laboratory
, Rue de la Maladière 71b, CH-2002 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
2
Choshu Industry Co., Ltd.
, 3740, Shin-yamanoi, Sanyo Onoda, Yamaguchi 757-8511, Japan
3Department of Materials Science and Engineering,
Yamaguchi University
, 2-16-1 Tokiwadai, Ube, Yamaguchi 755-8611, Japan
Search for other works by this author on:
Stefaan De Wolf
;
Stefaan De Wolf
4
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
, KAUST Solar Center (KSC), Thuwal, 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
Search for other works by this author on:
Jacques Levrat;
Jacques Levrat
5
CSEM PV-Center
, Jaquet-Droz 1, CH-2002 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Search for other works by this author on:
Gabriel Christmann;
Gabriel Christmann
5
CSEM PV-Center
, Jaquet-Droz 1, CH-2002 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Search for other works by this author on:
Antoine Descoeudres;
Antoine Descoeudres
5
CSEM PV-Center
, Jaquet-Droz 1, CH-2002 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Search for other works by this author on:
Sylvain Nicolay;
Sylvain Nicolay
5
CSEM PV-Center
, Jaquet-Droz 1, CH-2002 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Search for other works by this author on:
Matthieu Despeisse;
Matthieu Despeisse
5
CSEM PV-Center
, Jaquet-Droz 1, CH-2002 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Search for other works by this author on:
Yoshimi Watabe;
Yoshimi Watabe
2
Choshu Industry Co., Ltd.
, 3740, Shin-yamanoi, Sanyo Onoda, Yamaguchi 757-8511, Japan
Search for other works by this author on:
Christophe Ballif
Christophe Ballif
1École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL),
Institute of Microengineering (IMT), Photovoltaics and Thin Film Electronics Laboratory
, Rue de la Maladière 71b, CH-2002 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
5
CSEM PV-Center
, Jaquet-Droz 1, CH-2002 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Search for other works by this author on:
a)
E-mail: kobayashi.eiji@choshu.co.jp
Appl. Phys. Lett. 109, 153503 (2016)
Article history
Received:
September 09 2016
Accepted:
October 01 2016
Citation
Eiji Kobayashi, Stefaan De Wolf, Jacques Levrat, Gabriel Christmann, Antoine Descoeudres, Sylvain Nicolay, Matthieu Despeisse, Yoshimi Watabe, Christophe Ballif; Light-induced performance increase of silicon heterojunction solar cells. Appl. Phys. Lett. 10 October 2016; 109 (15): 153503. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4964835
Download citation file:
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Sign In
You could not be signed in. Please check your credentials and make sure you have an active account and try again.
Pay-Per-View Access
$40.00
Citing articles via
Topological and chiral matter—Physics and applications
Maia G. Vergniory, Takeshi Kondo, et al.
Roadmap on photonic metasurfaces
Sebastian A. Schulz, Rupert. F. Oulton, et al.
Feedback cooling of an insulating high-Q diamagnetically levitated plate
S. Tian, K. Jadeja, et al.
Related Content
High efficiency heterojunction solar cells on n-type kerfless mono crystalline silicon wafers by epitaxial growth
Appl. Phys. Lett. (June 2015)
Is light-induced degradation of a-Si:H/c-Si interfaces reversible?
Appl. Phys. Lett. (June 2014)
Influence of intrinsic amorphous silicon passivation layer on the dark-state stability of SHJ cells
Appl. Phys. Lett. (May 2023)
Light-induced degradation of native silicon oxide–silicon nitride bilayer passivated silicon
Appl. Phys. Lett. (October 2015)
Temperature dependency of the silicon heterojunction lifetime model based on the amphoteric nature of dangling bonds
AIP Advances (November 2016)