Recombination Activity and Impact of the Boron-Oxygen-Related Defect in Compensated n-Type Silicon

Date

2011

Authors

Rougieux, Fiacre
Forster, Maxime
MacDonald, Daniel
Cuevas, Andres
Lim, Bianca
Schmidt, Jan

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Volume Title

Publisher

IEEE Electron Devices Society

Abstract

In this paper, we present experimental data regarding the recombination activity and concentration of the boron-oxygen complex in compensated n-type silicon, doped with phosphorus and boron, when subjected to illumination. Unlike the data of Bothe in n-type silicon compensated with thermal donors, our results suggest the dominant defect level in our doping range to be a shallow level (EC-ET 0.15 eV), with a capture cross-section ratio σn/σp of around 0.006, suggesting a negatively charged center. We also confirm previous results showing an increasing defect density with bias light intensity. Due to the strong lifetime reduction observed, we suggest that this material might not be suited to make high-efficiency n-type solar cells, unless practical strategies to reduce the defect concentration can be developed.

Description

Keywords

Keywords: Bias light intensity; Boron-oxygen complex; Compensated; Defect concentrations; Defect levels; Doping range; Experimental data; Lifetime reduction; Light-induced degradation; N type silicon; n-type; Recombination activity; Thermal donor; Degradation; Phos Compensated; light-induced degradation; n-type; silicon

Citation

Source

IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics

Type

Journal article

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Restricted until

2037-12-31