Grain boundary effect on spectral response and effective diffusion length in polycrystalline silicon solar cells

ABSTRACT The effect of grain boundary recombination velocity, diffusion length in the bulk of the grain and the grain size on the photocurrent is studied with the help of a comprehensive mathematical formulation. The behaviour of the spectral response at long and short wavelengths is discussed. The effective diffusion length for polycrystalline silicon is determined as a function of the bulk grain diffusion length, grain size and the grain boundary recombination velocity.