Degradation of photovoltaic devices at high concentration by space charge limited currents

Published

October 1, 2013

Author(s)

Ari D. Feldman, Richard K. Ahrenkiel, John H. Lehman

Abstract

High-injection mobility reduction is examined by theory, modeling, and experimental data acquired by resonance coupled photoconductive decay (RCPCD). The ambipolar mobility is shown to reduce to zero when the constituent injection-dependent carrier mobilities are taken into account. Modeling of the photoconductivity incorporating the transient, injection-dependent, ambipolar mobility confirms experimental reduction in signal at increasing carrier generation rates. The onset of the reduction of mobility occurs at approximately 10 times the background carrier density, thus devices that utilize lightly doped materials are susceptible to anomalous injection based behavior. For photovoltaic applications, high-injection device performance degradation would result from mobility reduction due to lower carrier capture.

Citation

Journal of Solar Energy Materials and Solar Devices

Volume

117

Issue

SI

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2013.07.005

Keywords

ambipolar mobility, mobility, photoconductive decay, RCPCD, silicon, solar cells

Citation

Feldman, A. , Ahrenkiel, R. and Lehman, J. (2013), Degradation of photovoltaic devices at high concentration by space charge limited currents, Journal of Solar Energy Materials and Solar Devices, [online], https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2013.07.005 (Accessed October 16, 2025)