Extension of the a-Si:H electronic transport model to μc-Si:H:: use of the μ0τ0 product to correlate electronic transport properties and solar cell performances

The aim of this communication is to show that it is possible to extend the model of the electronic transport developed for amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) to microcrystalline silicon (mu c-Si:H). By describing the electronic transport with the mu(0)tau(R) products (mobility x recombination time) as a function of the Fermi level, we observed the same behaviour for both materials, indicating a similar type of recombination. Moreover, applying the normalised mu(0)tau(0) product (mobility x life-time) obtained by combining the photoconductivity (sigma(photo)) and the ambipolar diffusion length (L-amb) measured in individual layers, we are able, as in the case of a-Si:H, to predict the quality of the solar cells incorporating these layers as the active [i] layer. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.