Limiting the photodegradation in amorphous silicon solar cells

One of the most serious impediments to the commercial development of amorphous silicon solar cells is the existence of photodegradation or the Staebler-Wronski effect. This effect was discovered nearly twenty years ago and considerable effort has since been devoted to methods of overcoming it, but so far no complete cure has been found. This paper will report on efforts to understand the mechanism of photodegradation and to find ways to limit or reverse its effect. A proposed model for the Staebler-Wronski effect will be presented as well as the results from studies of several methods suggested by the model for limiting or reversing photodegradation.