Tunneling Contributions to NiP and Pin Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Devices

Abstract

It is well known that the performance of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si) p-i-n type devices is determined by the sequence of deposition. For instance, the stainless steel/p-i-n configuration generally shows a larger value of the open circuit voltage (up to 200mV) compared to the n-i-p sequence of deposition \1,2]. Explanations of this phenomena such as the Dember potential \1], self field effect \2], residual doping \3], hydrogen effusion effects associated with the p+ layer deposition process \4, 5] are unable to satisfactorily explain the difference in performance.