Extension of the a-Si:H electronic transport model to μc-Si:H: use of the μτ product to correlate electronic transport properties and solar cell performances

The aim of this communication is to show that it is possible to extend the model of the electronic transport developed for amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) to microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H). By describing the electronic transport with the μ⁰τ^R products (mobility×recombination time) as a function of the Fermi level, we observed the same behaviour for both materials, indicating a similar type of recombination. Moreover, applying the normalised μ⁰τ⁰ product (mobility×life-time) obtained by combining the photoconductivity (σ_photo) and the ambipolar diffusion length (L_amb) measured in individual layers, we are able, as in the case of a-Si:H, to predict the quality of the solar cells incorporating these layers as the active i layer.