Higher selectivity, method for passivating short circuit current paths in semiconductor devices

Certain modifications and additions to the prior art short passivation technique have lead to improvements in the low light voltage of solar cells which are made using the improved passivation technique. Examples of the modifications include: 1) reducing the voltage bias on the cell while increasing the time of application of the voltage; 2) reversing the polarity of the voltage bias on the devices; 3) alternating pulsing between forward and reverse polarity bias; or 4) applying light energy simultaneously with an electrical bias voltage.