Instability phenomena in μc-Si:H solar cells prepared by hot-wire CVD

We have investigated the various types of instability phenomena in μc-Si:H solar cells prepared by HWCVD under conditions close to the transition to amorphous growth, resulting in compact material, and other cells containing a high crystalline volume fraction of material with a pronounced porosity.It was found that light-induced degradation is most pronounced for material with some amorphous volume fraction while highly crystalline material is stable under illumination. On the other hand, we have observed a strong degradation of the current–voltage (J–V) parameters after treatment in de-ionized water of the cells with highly crystalline i-layers, while cells with compact i-layer material show very little changes.