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Light Soaking and Thermal Annealing Effects on the Micro-Electrical Properties of Amorphous and Nanocrystalline Mixed-phase Silicon Solar Cells

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We report on the measurement of local current flow in hydrogenated amorphous and nanocrystalline mixed-phase n-i-p silicon solar cells in the initial, light-soaked, and annealed states using conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM). The C-AFM measurement shows that the nanometer-size grains aggregate and the local current densities in the nanocrystalline aggregation areas significantly decreased after light soaking and recovered to similar values as the initial state after annealing at a high temperature in vacuum. This result supports the two-parallel-connected-diode model for explaining the light-induced open-circuit voltage increase in the mixed-phase solar cells.

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Jiang, C., Yan, B., Moutinho, H.R. et al. Light Soaking and Thermal Annealing Effects on the Micro-Electrical Properties of Amorphous and Nanocrystalline Mixed-phase Silicon Solar Cells. MRS Online Proceedings Library 989, 205 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1557/PROC-0989-A02-05

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/PROC-0989-A02-05

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