Room Temperature Recovery of Light Induced Changes in Amorphous Silicon Solar Cells

Abstract

AbstractWe have observed the recovery of the performance of amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) based solar cell (especially the fill factor) at temperatures between 25°C and 170°C after ∼600 hours of light soaking under 1 sun illumination at ∼40°C. We find that there is some recovery of the fill factor of the cells even at temperatures below the temperature of light soaking. The recovery is significantly greater in cells of poor quality. There is also some evidence of enhancement of the recovery rate due to an external electric field. Above the light soaking temperature, a sort of thermally activated recovery of the fill factor is observed.