Injection dependence of the effective lifetime of n-type Si passivated by Al2O3: An edge effect?

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer review

Authors

  • Boris Veith
  • Tobias Ohrdes
  • Florian Werner
  • Rolf Brendel
  • Pietro P. Altermatt
  • Nils Peter Harder
  • Jan Schmidt

Research Organisations

External Research Organisations

  • Institute for Solar Energy Research (ISFH)
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Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)436-440
Number of pages5
JournalSolar Energy Materials and Solar Cells
Volume120
Issue numberPART A
Publication statusPublished - 2014

Abstract

Aluminum oxide provides an excellent surface passivation on p- and n-type crystalline silicon. On n-type silicon, however, the effective excess carrier lifetime τeff is often found to be injection dependent. Our experimental results show that, in our case, this effect depends mainly on the size of the lifetime samples. The fixed negative charges present at the Al 2O3/c-Si interface induce an inversion layer at the surface, which results in a p-n-junction close to the surface of the sample and the inversion layer couples the sensing area with the poorly passivated or damaged edge of the sample. For smaller samples stronger injection-dependent lifetimes are measured, whereas large samples show a smaller injection dependence. In addition, photoconductance-calibrated photoluminescence lifetime images show that for low injection levels the lifetime decreases towards the sample edge. Device simulations for different sample sizes including the edge recombination are in agreement with the measured injection-dependent lifetimes. Therefore, it is necessary to use sufficiently large samples or decouple the sensing area form the edge when evaluating the injection dependence of the lifetime. For the samples used in this contribution, the injection dependence of the lifetime did not even fully vanish for an edge length of 12.5 cm.

Keywords

    Aluminum oxide, Charge carrier lifetime, Modeling, Silicon, Surface passivation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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Cite this

Injection dependence of the effective lifetime of n-type Si passivated by Al2O3: An edge effect? / Veith, Boris; Ohrdes, Tobias; Werner, Florian et al.
In: Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 120, No. PART A, 2014, p. 436-440.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer review

Veith B, Ohrdes T, Werner F, Brendel R, Altermatt PP, Harder NP et al. Injection dependence of the effective lifetime of n-type Si passivated by Al2O3: An edge effect? Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells. 2014;120(PART A):436-440. doi: 10.1016/j.solmat.2013.06.049
Veith, Boris ; Ohrdes, Tobias ; Werner, Florian et al. / Injection dependence of the effective lifetime of n-type Si passivated by Al2O3 : An edge effect?. In: Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells. 2014 ; Vol. 120, No. PART A. pp. 436-440.
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abstract = "Aluminum oxide provides an excellent surface passivation on p- and n-type crystalline silicon. On n-type silicon, however, the effective excess carrier lifetime τeff is often found to be injection dependent. Our experimental results show that, in our case, this effect depends mainly on the size of the lifetime samples. The fixed negative charges present at the Al 2O3/c-Si interface induce an inversion layer at the surface, which results in a p-n-junction close to the surface of the sample and the inversion layer couples the sensing area with the poorly passivated or damaged edge of the sample. For smaller samples stronger injection-dependent lifetimes are measured, whereas large samples show a smaller injection dependence. In addition, photoconductance-calibrated photoluminescence lifetime images show that for low injection levels the lifetime decreases towards the sample edge. Device simulations for different sample sizes including the edge recombination are in agreement with the measured injection-dependent lifetimes. Therefore, it is necessary to use sufficiently large samples or decouple the sensing area form the edge when evaluating the injection dependence of the lifetime. For the samples used in this contribution, the injection dependence of the lifetime did not even fully vanish for an edge length of 12.5 cm.",
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T2 - An edge effect?

AU - Veith, Boris

AU - Ohrdes, Tobias

AU - Werner, Florian

AU - Brendel, Rolf

AU - Altermatt, Pietro P.

AU - Harder, Nils Peter

AU - Schmidt, Jan

N1 - Funding Information: The authors thank M. Kessler for fruitful discussions. Funding was provided by the State of Lower Saxony and the German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) under Contract no. 0325050 (“ALD”).

PY - 2014

Y1 - 2014

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