Electroluminescence from amorphous silicon/crystalline silicon solar cells and its temperature dependence

The quality of the amorphous silicon/crystalline silicon interface is decisive for efficient operation of amorphous silicon/crystalline silicon heterojunction solar cells. We investigate the electroluminescence from these heterojunction solar cells for a variation of interface properties. We detail electroluminescence results from temperature-dependent simulations which show that the electroluminescence yield at constant current density is almost temperature-independent for lower interface-defect densities while for higher interface-defect densities the electroluminescence yield decreases with decreasing temperature. In contrast to the influence of the front interface which does not change the spectral shape, the related inhomogeneous carrier profile distorts the spectrum so that conclusions can be drawn on the rear interface properties. (C) 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim