Effects of pinholes, oxide traps, and surface states on MIS solar cells
- 15 July 1978
- journal article
- research article
- Published by AIP Publishing in Applied Physics Letters
- Vol. 33 (2) , 178-180
- https://doi.org/10.1063/1.90299
Abstract
It is shown that the insulating layer in metal‐insulator‐semiconductor (MIS) solar cells by no means has to be perfect to obtain optimum photovoltaic performance. Oxide pinhole densities as large as 1000 cm−2 can be tolerated without degrading the device properties. Large densities of oxide traps at energies close to the majority‐carrier band edge in the semiconductor can reduce the cell efficiency as can surface states in nonoptimal devices. Devices optimally designed with an inversion layer at the IS interface are virtually immune to these states, densities in excess of 1013 cm−2 causing no degradation in properties.Keywords
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