A new electric field effect in silicon solar cells

摘要

The phenomenon of high‐resistivity silicon solar cells manifesting high open‐circuit voltages previously observed only for cells made from low‐resistivity silicon is shown to be caused by the presence of a shallow diffused region at the back surface of the cell. The basic cell structure is either n+, p, p+ or p+, n, n+. The high open‐circuit voltage arises from the injection and accumulation of excess majority carriers in the bulk upon illumination or application of forward bias to the structure. A working model for the cell, designated a back surface field (BSF) cell, is described, and recent developments are cited.