On the sensitivity of open-circuit voltage and fill factor on dangling bond density and Fermi level position in amorphous silicon p–i–n solar cell

A simple method for calculation of current–voltage characteristics of an amorphous silicon solar cell is described in terms of excitation current, JG, and excitation voltage, VG, the latter being defined in terms of separation of quasi-Fermi levels. Contrary to the usual method of calculating the short-circuit current and dark current separately and assuming a linear superposition, in the present method the calculations are done first in the open circuit where the neutrality of space charge can be assumed and then the current has been calculated in terms of a gradient in the quasi-Fermi levels. We find that depending on other parameters, the open-circuit voltage is a weak function of dangling bond density except in cases of very large degradation. The sensitivity of open-circuit voltage, Voc, to light-induced degradation can further be reduced by moving the thermal equilibrium Fermi level above the upper dangling bond level. Fill factor deterioration is found to be mainly due to conductivity modulation and is higher for the lower values of thermal equilibrium Fermi level.