Amorphous carbon (a-C) is a potential material for the development of low-cost and high-efficiency solar cell. We report the study of the influence of light soaking up to 100 h oil n-C/p-Si heterojunction solar cell. It is observed that the deterioration in the fill factor and the efficiency are significantly smaller as compared to that observed in a-Si:H solar cell. Variations in the temperature coefficients of the I-V characteristics subjected to light degradation and recovery has also been investigated. A good correlation between change in the temperature coefficient and the degradation/recovery state of cell's conversion efficiency has been observed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.