A Physical Model for Non-ohmic Shunt Conduction and Metastability in Amorphous Silicon p-i-n Solar Cells

Author

• Sourabh Dongaonkar, Purdue University - Main CampusFollow
• Karthik Y, Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay
• Souvik Mahapatra, Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay
• Muhammad A. Alam, Network for Computational Nanotechnoloy, Birck Nanotechnology Center, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue UniversityFollow

Abstract

We present a physical model of non-ohmic shunt current in a-Si:H p-i-n solar cells, and validate it with detailed measurements. This model is based on space-charge-limited (SCL) transport through localized p-i-p shunt paths, which can arise from contact metal incorporation in a-Si:H layer. This model explains both the electrical characteristics and the metastable switching behavior of the shunts within an integrated framework. We first verify the SCL model using simulations and statistically robust measurements, and then use this picture to analyze our systematic observations of non-volatile switching in these shunts. Our work not only resolves broad experimental observations on shunt behavior, but also suggests possible techniques for alleviating shunt induced performance and reliability issues.

Keywords

Thin film solar cells, shunt, metastable switching, variability, reliability, voltage stress

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.2011.6186664

Citation

37th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2011

Date of this Version

2011

Recommended Citation

Dongaonkar, Sourabh; Y, Karthik; Mahapatra, Souvik; and Alam, Muhammad A., "A Physical Model for Non-ohmic Shunt Conduction and Metastability in Amorphous Silicon p-i-n Solar Cells" (2011). Birck and NCN Publications. Paper 761.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2011.6186664