Performance improvement in CdTe solar cells by modifying the CdS/CdTe interface with a Cd treatment

The performance of n-CdS/p-CdTe solar cells is often degraded under light soaking or thermal stress, even though the technology of CdTe solar cells is close to a commercial level. The Cu diffusion from a Cu back contact to a CdS window layer might degrade the cell's performance. To prevent the Cu diffusion, a very-thin intrinsic CdTe layer was introduced at the n-CdS/p-CdTe interface by depositing a very-thin Cd metal layer on the CdS film and converting the Cd metal into intrinsic CdTe during p-CdTe deposition at high temperature. By the Cd treatment on CdS surface, pinholes or voids were eliminated at the CdS/CdTe and the intermixing of Te and S at the interface was much suppressed. The depletion width was much increased and the intensity of LTPL peak was increased. The analysis suggested that an intrinsic CdTe interlayer was formed and the surface recombination rate was suppressed by the intrinsic interlayer. As a result, the short circuit current of the CdTe solar cell was significantly increased due the increased current gain in the blue wavelength region. The thermal stability of the CdTe solar cell was also greatly improved and the Cu diffusion was retarded by the intrinsic CdTe interlayer at the n-CdS/p-CdTe.     

Effect of CdS deposition temperature for thermally grown Cu(In,Ga)Se2 and two-step chalcogenized Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2 absorbers on solar cell performances

CdS buffer layer of varying thickness ranging from 23 to 58 nm deposited at different substrate temperature were prepared as n-type junction partner for thermally grown Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ and two-step chalcogenized Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)₂ photovoltaic absorber films and the effect of deposition temperature and time on the CdS growth behavior and solar cell performance were evaluated. High deposition temperature resulted in a thicker CdS layer and more importantly lower density and shallower depth of open voids, which attributed to the improved open-circuit voltage and fill factor due to reduced interface recombination. The solar cell efficiency of thermally grown absorber saturated at about 30 nm thickness of CdS, while that of chalcogenized absorber gradually increased with CdS thickness up to 60 nm without significant loss of short-circuit current density.     

基于氧化镍背接触缓冲层碲化镉薄膜太阳电池的研究

采用电子束蒸发法制备了NiO薄膜,并对其作为碲化镉薄膜太阳电池背接触缓冲层材料进行了相关研究.NiO缓冲层的加入使得碲化镉太阳电池开路电压显著增大.通过X射线光电子能谱测试得到的NiO/CdTe界面能带图表明NiO和CdTe的能带匹配度很好.NiO是宽禁带P型半导体材料,在电池背接触处形成背场,减少了电子在背表面处的复合,从而提高电池开路电压.通过优化NiO薄膜厚度,制备得到转换效率为12.2%、开路电压为789 mV的碲化镉太阳电池.研究证实NiO是用来制备高转换效率、高稳定性碲化镉薄膜太阳电池的一种极有前景的缓冲层材料.     

Understanding the junction degradation mechanism in CdS/CdTe solar cells using a Cd-deficient CdTe layer

It is known that CdTe solar cells are often degraded under solar illumination. But the degradation mechanism is not fully proved because it does not appear consistently. The junction degradation in CdS/CdTe solar cells was investigated using a CdTe layer with Cd deficient composition, where Cd vacancy concentration is high. It was found that the Cu atoms easily filled the Cd vacancies in CdTe and transport to junction area from Cu back contact. PL measurement and spectral quantum efficiency measurement showed that the incorporation of Cu atoms in CdS forms a defect energy level at 1.55 eV below the conduction band in CdS. As a result, the junction built-in potential is decreased and light penetration into CdTe absorber is shielded. For reliable and stable CdTe cells, the formation of Cd vacancy in CdTe should be avoided by careful control of CdTe.     

Recombination-induced voltage-dependent photocurrent collection loss in CdTe thin film solar cell

Recently, the efficiency of CdTe thin film solar cell has been improved by using new type of window layer Mg_xZn_1-xO (MZO). However, it is hard to achieve such a high efficiency as expected. In this report a comparative study is carried out between the MZO/CdTe and CdS/CdTe solar cells to investigate the factors affecting the device performance of MZO/CdTe solar cells. The efficiency loss quantified by voltage-dependent photocurrent collection efficiency (η_C(V')) is 3.89% for MZO/CdTe and 1.53% for CdS/CdTe solar cells. The higher efficiency loss for the MZO/CdTe solar cell is induced by more severe carrier recombination at the MZO/CdTe p—n junction interface and in CdTe bulk region than that for the CdS/CdTe solar cell. Activation energy (E_a) of the reverse saturation current of the MZO/CdTe and CdS/CdTe solar cells are found to be 1.08 eV and 1.36 eV, respectively. These values indicate that for the CdS/CdTe solar cell the carrier recombination is dominated by bulk Shockley—Read—Hall (SRH) recombination and for the MZO/CdTe solar cell the carrier recombination is dominated by the p—n junction interface recombination. It is found that the tunneling-enhanced interface recombination is also involved in carrier recombination in the MZO/CdTe solar cell. This work demonstrates the poor device performance of the MZO/CdTe solar cell is induced by more severe interface and bulk recombination than that of the CdS/CdTe solar cell.     

Influence of P<Superscript>+</Superscript>-ZnTe back surface contact on photovoltaic performance of ZnTe based solar cells

In order to improve photovoltaic performance of solar cells based on ZnTe thin films two device structures have been proposed and its photovoltaic parameters have been numerically simulated using Solar Cell Capacitance Simulator software. The first one is the ZnO/CdS/ZnTe conventional structure and the second one is the ZnO/CdS/ZnTe/P⁺-ZnTe structure with a P⁺-ZnTe layer inserted at the back surface of ZnTe active layer to produce a back surface field effect which could reduce back carrier recombination and thus increase the photovoltaic conversion efficiency of cells. The effect of ZnO, CdS and ZnTe layer thicknesses and the P⁺-ZnTe added layer and its thickness have been optimized for producing maximum working parameters such as: open-circuit voltage V_oc, short-circuit current density J_sc, fill factor FF, photovoltaic conversion efficiency η. The solar cell with ZnTe/P⁺-ZnTe junction showed remarkably higher conversion efficiency over the conventional solar cell based on ZnTe layer and the conversion efficiency of the ZnO/CdS/ZnTe/P⁺-ZnTe solar cell was found to be dependent on ZnTe and P⁺-ZnTe layer thicknesses. The optimization of ZnTe, CdS and ZnTe layers and the inserting of P⁺-ZnTe back surface layer results in an enhancement of the energy conversion efficiency since its maximum has increased from 10% for ZnO, CdS and ZnTe layer thicknesses of 0.05, 0.08 and 2 µm, respectively to 13.37% when ZnO, CdS, ZnTe and P⁺-ZnTe layer thicknesses are closed to 0.03, 0.03, 0.5 and 0.1 µm, respectively. Furthermore, the highest calculated output parameters have been J_sc?=?9.35 mA/cm², V_oc?=?1.81 V, η?=?13.37% and FF?=?79.05% achieved with ZnO, CdS, ZnTe, and P⁺-ZnTe layer thicknesses about 0.03, 0.03, 0.5 and 0.1 µm, respectively. Finally, the spectral response in the long-wavelength region for ZnO/CdS/ZnTe solar cells has decreased at the increase of back surface recombination velocity. However, it has exhibited a red shift and showed no dependence of back surface recombination velocity for ZnO/CdS/ZnTe/P?+?-ZnTe solar cells.     

ZnS/CdS复合窗口层对CdTe太阳能电池短波光谱响应的影响

采用磁控溅射法制备了ZnS/CdS复合窗口层,并将其应用于CdTe太阳能电池。对所制备薄膜的形貌和结构等进行了研究。测试了具有不同窗口层的CdTe太阳电池的量子效率和光Ⅰ-Ⅴ特性,分析了ZnS薄膜制备条件对CdTe电池器件性能影响;研究了CdS薄膜厚度和ZnS/CdS复合窗口层对短波区透过率以及CdTe太阳电池的光谱响应的影响。着重研究了具有ZnS/CdS复合窗口层的CdTe太阳电池的短波光谱响应。结果表明,CdS窗口层厚度从100 nm减至50 nm后,其对短波区光子透过率平均提高了18.3%,CdTe太阳电池短波区光谱响应平均提高了27.6%。衬底温度250 ℃条件下制备的ZnS晶粒尺寸小于室温下制备的ZnS。具有ZnS/CdS复合窗口层的CdTe电池中,采用衬底温度250 ℃沉积ZnS薄膜来制备窗口层的电池器件,其性能要优于室温下沉积ZnS制备窗口层的电池器件。这说明晶粒尺寸的大小对电子输运有一定影响。在相同厚度CdS的前提下,具有ZnS/CdS复合窗口层的CdTe电池比具有CdS窗口层在短波的光谱响应提高了约2%。这说明ZnS/CdS复合窗口层能够做到减少对短波光子的吸收,从而使更多的光子被CdTe电池的吸收层吸收。     

Preparation and characterization of ZnS/CdS bi-layer for CdTe solar cell application

In this work, bilayer ZnS/CdS film was prepared as an improved window layer of CdTe solar cell. TEM was used to observe the cross section of the bilayer structure. The total thickness of ZnS/CdS film was about 60 nm, which could allow more photons to pass through it and contribute to the photocurrent. Optical properties of the bilayers were investigated using UV–vis spectroscopy. Compared with poor transmission of standard CdS film in the short wavelength range of 350–550 nm, the transmission of ZnS/CdS was improved and reached above 50%. The ZnS/CdS was annealed with CdCl₂. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to investigate its chemical properties. A possible diffusion between CdS and ZnS was observed after annealing. The efficiency of standard CdS/CdTe solar cell was 9.53%. The device based on ZnS/CdS window layer had a poor 6% efficiency. With annealing treatment on ZnS/CdS layer, the performance was improved and reached 10.3%. In addition, the homogeneity of solar cell performance was improved using ZnS/CdS window layer. A thin ZnS layer was quite effective to reduce the possible shunt paths and short parts of window layer and consequently contributed to fabrication of a homogeneous CdTe solar cell.     

Enhancing the performance of thin film CdS/PbS photovoltaic solar cells

This work investigates dependence of the short-circuit current density, open-circuit voltage, fill factor and efficiency of a thin film CdS/PbS solar cell on thickness of transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layer, thickness of window layer (CdS), concentration of uncompensated acceptors (width of space-charge region), carrier lifetime in PbS and the reflectivity from metallic back contact. The effect of optical losses, front and rear recombination losses as well as the recombination losses on space-charge region are also considered in this study. As a result, by thinning the front contact layer indium tin oxide from 400 to 100 nm and window layer (CdS) from 200 to 100 nm it is possible to reduce the optical losses from 32 to 20%. The effect of electron lifetime on the internal and external quantum efficiency can be neglected at high width of the space-charge region. The maximum current density of 18.4 mA/cm² is achieved at wide space-charge region (concentration of uncompensated acceptors = 10¹⁵ cm^?3) and the longest lifetime (τ_n = 10^?6 s) where the optical and recombination losses are about 55%. The maximum efficiency of 5.17%, maximum open-circuit voltage of 417 mV and approximately fixed fill factor of 74% are yielded at optimum conditions such as: electron lifetime = 10^?6 s; concentration of uncompensated acceptors = 10¹⁶ cm^?3; thickness of TCO = 100 nm; thickness of CdS = 100 nm; velocity of surface and rear recombination = 10⁷ cm/s and thickness of absorber layer = 3 μm. When the reflectance from the back contact is 100%, the cell parameters improve and the cell efficiency records a value of 6.1% under the above conditions.     

Degradation sources of CdTe thin film PV: CdCl2 residue and shunting pinholes

The present work considers two observable phenomena through the experimental fabrication and electrical characterization of the rf-sputtered CdS/CdTe thin film solar cells that extremely reduce the overall conversion efficiency of the device: CdCl₂ residue on the surface of the semiconductor and shunting pinholes. The former happens through nonuniform treatment of the As-deposited solar cells before annealing at high temperature and the latter occurs by shunting pinholes when the cell surface is shunted by defects, wire-like pathways or scratches on the metallic back contact caused from the external contacts. Such physical problems may be quite common in the experimental activities and reduce the performance down to 4–5 % which leads to dismantle the device despite its precise fabrication. We present our electrical characterization on the samples that received wet CdCl₂ surface treatment (uniform or nonuniform) and are damaged by the pinholes.     

Numerical simulation of ultra-thin CdTe solar cells with a buffer layer of MoOx in the backwall configuration

The software of Solar Cell Capacitance Simulator (SCAPS) is used to investigate the performance of ultra-thin CdTe solar cells in the backwall configuration (glass/ITO/MoO_x/CdTe/CdS/SnO₂/Ag). The backwall structure utilizes ultra-thin CdTe absorber layer instead of CdS film facing light illumination, which eliminates the absorption of CdS in short-wavelength region and improves the blue response of CdTe. A buffer layer of MoO_x is added to modify the contact between CdTe and ITO, reducing the valence band barrier height and simultaneously forming an electron reflector, which can reduce electron-hole recombination at this contact. When the thickness of MoO_x is 2 nm, the simulation results show that an efficiency can reach up to 25.5% with high ITO work function and ideal interface recombination velocity.     

Investigation of nuclear quantum effect on the hydrogen bonds of ammonium dihydrogen phosphate using single-crystal neutron diffraction and theoretical modelling

The heterostructure of patterned CdS / CdTe thin films with back contact have been devised with electron beam lithography and fabricated using sputter deposition technique. The metallic contacts for n-CdS and p-CdTe are patterned such that both are placed at the bottom of the cell. This avoids losses due to contact shading and increases absorption in the window layer. Patterning of the device surface helps in increasing the junction area which can modulate the absorption of more number of photons due to total internal reflection. Computing the surface area between a planar and a patterned device has revealed 133% increase in the junction area. The physical and optical properties of the sputter-deposited CdS / CdTe layers are also presented. J–V characteristics of the solar cell showed the fill factor to be 25.9%, open circuit voltage to be 17 mV and short-circuit current density to be \(113.68~\hbox {A}/\hbox {m}^{2}\). The increase in surface area is directly related to the increase in the short circuit current of the photovoltaic cell, which is observed from the results of simulated model in Atlas / Silvaco.     

化学水浴法制备大面积CdS薄膜及其光伏应用

采用化学水浴法制备了大面积CdS多晶薄膜,研究了薄膜的形貌、结构和光学性质,结果表明,大面积CdS多晶薄膜具有良好的均匀性,通过优化CdS多晶薄膜,制成了不同CdS窗口层厚度的CdTe小面积太阳电池,减薄CdS薄膜可有效提高器件的短路电流,改善器件性能.随后,在面积30cm×40cm的衬底上制备了全面积为993.6cm²的CdTe太阳电池组件,其27个集成单元的电学性质较为均匀,太阳电池组件的光电转换效率8.13%. 关键词： 化学水浴法(CBD) CdS薄膜 CdTe太阳电池 CdTe太阳电池组件     

Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin film solar cells from nanoparticle precursors

A non-vacuum process for Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) thin film solar cells from nanoparticle precursors was described in this work. CIGS nanoparticle precursors was prepared by a low temperature colloidal route by reacting the starting materials (CuI, InI₃, GaI₃ and Na₂Se) in organic solvents, by which fine CIGS nanoparticles of about 15 nm in diameter were obtained. The nanoparticle precursors were then deposited onto Mo/glass substrate by the doctor blade technique. After heat treating the CIGS/Mo/glass layers in Se gas atmosphere, a complete solar cell structure was fabricated by depositing the other layers including CdS buffer layer, ZnO window layer and Al electrodes by conventional methods. The resultant solar cell showed a conversion efficiency of 0.5%.     

肖特基势垒对CdS/CdTe薄膜电池J-V暗性能的影响

采用数学模拟方法分析了不同背接触势垒高度(φ_b) 对于CdS/CdTe薄膜电池的J-V(电流密度-电压)方程的影响, 得出了势垒高度与roll-over的变化对应关系. 采用相应Cu/Mo背电极的CdS/CdTe薄膜电池在220-300 K的变温J-V曲线的数值分析与理论分析相对照, 分析了背势垒对于J-V曲线拟合参数的影响. 修正了φ_b 与反向饱和电流(J_b0)关系式, 理论与实验符合得非常好. 关键词： CdS/CdTe薄膜 伏安特性 肖特基势垒 roll-over     

Junction configurations and their impacts on Cu(In,Ga)Se2 based solar cells performances

One dimension solar cells simulator package (SCAPS) is used to study the possibility of carrying out thin CIGS solar cells with high and stable efficiency. In the first step, we modified the conventional ZnO:B/i-ZnO/CdS/SDL/CIGS/Mo structure by substituting the SDL layer with the P?+?layer, having a wide bandgap from 1 to l.12?eV. Then, we simulated the J-V characteristics of this new structure and showed how the electrical parameters are affected. Conversion efficiency of 18.46% is founded by using 1.1?μm of P?+?layer thickness. Secondly, we analyze the effect of increase thickness and doping density of CIGS, CdS and P?+?layers on the electric parameters of this new structure. We show that only the short-circuit current density (J_SC) and efficiency are improved, reaching respectively 34.68?mA/cm² and 18.85%, with increasing of the acceptors density. Finally, we introduced 10?nm of various electron reflectors at the CIGS/Mo interface in the new structure to reduce the recombination of minority carriers at the back contact. High conversion efficiency of 23.34% and better stability are obtained when wide band-gap BSF is used.     

Synthesis of self-light-scattering wrinkle structured ZnO photoanode by sol–gel method for dye-sensitized solar cells

A special morphological zinc oxide (ZnO) photoanode for dye-sensitized solar cell was fabricated by simple sol–gel drop casting technique. This film shows a wrinkled structure resembling the roots of banyan tree, which acts as an effective self scattering layer for harvesting more visible light and offers an easy transport path for photo-injected electrons. These ZnO electrode of low thickness (~5 μm) gained an enhanced short-circuit current density of 6.15 mA/cm², open-circuit voltage of 0.67 V, fill factor of 0.47 and overall conversion efficiency of 1.97 % under 1 sun illumination. This shows a high conversion efficiency and a superior performance than that of ZnO nanoparticle-based photoanode (η ~ 1.13 %) of high thickness (~8 μm).     

Hydrogen concentration in chalcopyrite thin-film solar cells

A survey of the hydrogen concentration distribution in the various layers of chalcopyrite solar cells is presented. Depth profiles were measured by the nuclear reaction analysis method for the glass substrate, Mo back contact, Cu(In,Ga)S₂ or Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ absorber, CdS buffer, and ZnO window layer. We find that hydrogen is present in all layers in concentrations exceeding the solubility of hydrogen in the corresponding crystalline bulk materials. This indicates that the deposition process and the polycrystallinity of the layers favor the uptake of hydrogen. The measured concentrations range from some 10¹⁸ H/cm³ in the absorber up to some 10²¹ H/cm³ in the CdS buffer layer. Effects of annealing at elevated temperatures are reported.     

Thickness study of Al:ZnO film for application as a window layer in Cu(In1−xGax)Se2 thin film solar cell

Structural, electrical and optical properties of Al doped ZnO (Al:ZnO) thin film of various thicknesses, grown by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering system were studied in relation to the application as a window layer in Cu(In_1−xGa_x)Se₂ (CIGS) thin film solar cell. It was found that the electrical and structural properties of Al:ZnO film improved with increasing its thickness, however, the optical properties degraded. The short circuit current density, J_sc of the fabricated CIGS based solar cells was significantly influenced by the variation of the Al:ZnO window layer thickness. Best efficiency was obtained when CIGS solar cell was fabricated with electrically and optically optimized Al:ZnO window layer.     

Short‐circuit current improvement of CuGaSe2 solar cells with a ZnS/(Zn,Mg)O buffer combination

CuGaSe₂ (CGS) thin‐film solar cells were prepared with an in‐line co‐evaporation process and the established buffer combination CdS/i‐ZnO was replaced by ZnS/(Zn,Mg)O. We obtained functional CGS solar cells with a strong gain in the short‐circuit current density as compared to the CdS/i‐ZnO buffer reference cells. The enhanced current density is a result of improved transmission in the wavelength region between 330 nm and 550 nm of the ZnS/(Zn,Mg)O buffer combination as compared to CdS/i‐ZnO. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)