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Updated: May 31, 2026

Developing High Performance GaP/Si Heterojunction Solar Cells
Published on: November 16, 2018
Characterization of silicon heterojunctions for solar cells
Jean-Paul Kleider1, Jose Alvarez, Alexander Vitalievitch Ankudinov
1Laboratoire de Génie Electrique de Paris, CNRS UMR 8507, SUPELEC, Univ P-Sud, UPMC Univ Paris 6, 11 rue Joliot-Curie, Plateau de Moulon, 91192 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France. jean-paul.kleider@lgep.supelec.fr.
Abstract:
Conductive-probe atomic force microscopy (CP-AFM) measurements reveal the existence of a conductive channel at the interface between p-type hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) and n-type crystalline silicon (c-Si) as well as at the interface between n-type a-Si:H and p-type c-Si. This is in good agreement with planar conductance measurements that show a large interface conductance. It is demonstrated that these features are related to the existence of a strong inversion layer of holes at the c-Si surface of (p) a-Si:H/(n) c-Si structures, and to a strong inversion layer of electrons at the c-Si surface of (n) a-Si:H/(p) c-Si heterojunctions. These are intimately related to the band offsets, which allows us to determine these parameters with good precision.
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