1. |
- Bliss, Martin, et al.
(author)
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Spectral Response Measurements of Perovskite Solar Cells
- 2019
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In: IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics. - : IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC. - 2156-3381 .- 2156-3403. ; 9:1, s. 220-226
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A new spectral response (SR) measurement routine is proposed that is universally applicable for all perovskite devices. It is aimed at improving measurement accuracy and repeatability of SR curves and current-voltage curve spectral mismatch factor (MMF) corrections. Frequency response, effects of preconditioning as well as dependency on incident light intensity and voltage load on SR measurements are characterized on two differently structured perovskite device types. It is shown that device preconditioning affects the SR shape, causing errors in spectral MMF corrections of up to 0.8% when using a reference cell with a good spectral match and a class A solar simulator. Wavelength dependent response to incident light intensity and voltage load is observed on both device types, which highlights the need to measure at short-circuit current and maximum power point to correct spectral mismatch. The method with recommendations given ensures that the correct measurement conditions are applied and measurements are corrected for instability in performance.
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2. |
- Cunha, Jose M., V, et al.
(author)
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Decoupling of Optical and Electrical Properties of Rear Contact CIGS Solar Cells
- 2019
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In: IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). - 2156-3381 .- 2156-3403. ; 9:6, s. 1857-1862
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A novel architecture that comprises rear interface passivation and increased rear optical reflection is presented with the following advantages: i) enhanced optical reflection is achieved by the deposition of a metallic layer over the Mo rear contact; ii) improved interface qualitywithCIGS by adding a sputteredAl 2O 3 layer over the metallic layer; and, iii) optimal ohmic electrical contact ensured by rear-openings refilling with a second layer of Mo as generally observed from the growth of CIGS on Mo. Hence, a decoupling between the electrical function and the optical purpose of the rear substrate is achieved. We present in detail the manufacturing procedure of such type of architecture together with its benefits and caveats. A preliminary analysis showing an architecture proof-of-concept is presented and discussed.
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3. |
- Cunha, J. M. V., et al.
(author)
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Insulator Materials for Interface Passivation of Cu(In,Ga)Se-2 Thin Films
- 2018
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In: IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics. - : IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC. - 2156-3381 .- 2156-3403. ; 8:5, s. 1313-1319
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this work, metal-insulator-semiconductor structures were fabricated in order to study different types of insulators, namely, aluminum oxide (Al2O3), silicon nitride, and silicon oxide (SiOx) to be used as passivation layers in Cu(In,Ga)Se-2 (CIGS) thin-film solar cells. The investigated stacks consisted of SLG/Mo/CIGS/insulator/Al. Raman scattering and photoluminescence measurements were done to verify the insulator deposition influence on the CIGS surface. In order to study the electrical properties of the CIGS-insulator interface, capacitance versus conductance and voltage (C-G-V) measurements were done to estimate the number and polarity of fixed insulator charges (Q(f)). The density of interface defects (D-it) was estimated from capacitance versus conductance and frequency (C-G-f) measurements. This study evidences that the deposition of the insulators at high temperatures (300 degrees C) and the use of a sputtering technique cause surface modification on the CIGS surface. We found that, by varying the SiOx deposition parameters, it is possible to have opposite charges inside the insulator, which would allow its use in different device architectures. The material with lower Dit values was Al2O3 when deposited by sputtering.
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4. |
- Cunha, José M. V., et al.
(author)
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Understanding the AC Equivalent Circuit Response of Ultrathin Cu(In,Ga)Se2 Solar Cells
- 2019
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In: IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics. - 2156-3381 .- 2156-3403. ; 9:5, s. 1442-1448
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper aims to study the ac electrical response of standard-thick, ultrathin, and passivated ultrathin Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 (CIGS) solar cells. Ultrathin CIGS is desired to reduce production costs of CIGS solar cells. Equivalent circuits for modeling the behavior of each type of solar cells in ac regime are based on admittance measurements. It is of the utmost importance to understand the ac electrical behavior of each device, as the electrical behavior of ultrathin and passivated ultrathin CIGS devices is yet to be fully understood. The analysis shows a simpler ac equivalent circuit for the ultrathin device without passivation layer, which might be explained by the lowered bulk recombination for thin-film CIGS solar cells when compared with reference thick ones. Moreover, it is observed an increase in shunt resistance for the passivated ultrathin device, which strengthens the importance of passivation for shunts mitigation when compared with unpassivated devices.
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5. |
- Edoff, Marika, 1965-, et al.
(author)
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High Voc in (Cu,Ag)(In,Ga)Se2 Solar Cells
- 2017
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In: IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics. - 2156-3381 .- 2156-3403. ; 7:6, s. 1789-1794
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this contribution, we show that silver substitution for copper in Cu(In,Ga)Se-2 (CIGS) to form (Ag,Cu)(In, Ga)Se-2 (ACIGS) leads to a reduction of the voltage loss expressed as E-g/q-V-oc. This, in turn, leads to higher device efficiencies as compared to similar CIGS devices without Ag. We report V-oc at 814 mV at a conversion efficiency of 21% for our best ACIGS device with 20% of the group I element consisting of silver. Comparing ACIGS and CIGS devices with the same Ga/(Ga+ In) ratio, the ACIGS devices exhibit about 0.05 eV higher bandgap. Alkali postdeposition treatment with KF leads to improvements in efficiency both for CIGS and ACIGS, but we find that the dose of KF needed for optimum device for ACIGS is 10-20% of the dose used for CIGS.
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6. |
- Fjällström, Viktor, et al.
(author)
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Recovery After Potential-Induced Degradation of CuIn1-xGaxSe2 Solar Cells With CdS and Zn(O,S) Buffer Layers
- 2015
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In: IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics. - 2156-3381 .- 2156-3403. ; 5:2, s. 664-669
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study deals with potential-induced degradation (PID) of Cu(In,Ga)Se-2-based solar cells and different approaches to subsequent recovery of efficiency. Three different recovery methods were studied: 1) etch recovery, 2) accelerated recovery, and 3) unaccelerated recovery. After being completely degraded, the solar cells with CdS buffer layers recovered their efficiencies at different rates, depending on the method which was used. On the other hand, if Zn(O,S) was used as a buffer layer instead of CdS, the recovery rate was close to zero. The buffer layer type clearly influenced the sodium distribution during PID stressing and recovery, as well as the possibilities for recovery of the electrical performance.
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7. |
- Frisk, Christopher, 1985-, et al.
(author)
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On the extraction of doping concentration from capacitance-voltage : A Cu2ZnSnS4 and ZnS sandwich structure
- 2017
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In: IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics. - 2156-3381 .- 2156-3403. ; 7:5, s. 1421-1425
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The capacitance-voltage (C-V) method is frequently used to evaluate the net doping of thin-film solar cells, an important parameter for the function of solar cells. However, complex materials such as kesterites are challenging to characterize. To minimize ambiguity when determining the apparent doping concentration (N-A) of Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS), we fabricated and investigated different structures: CZTS/ZnS metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) device, stand-alone CZTS and ZnS metal-sandwich structures, and CZTS solar cells. Characterization was carried out by means of admittance spectroscopy (AS) and C-V measurements. ZnS exhibits excellent intrinsic properties, and with the high-quality MIS sample we managed to successfully isolate the capacitive response of the CZTS itself. N-A, as extracted from the MIS structure, is found to be more reliable and four times higher compared with the solar cell, impacting any estimated collection efficiency substantially. Data herein presented also show that CZTS has a substantial low-frequency dispersive capacitance and the extraction of N-A depends on the chosen measurement frequency, symptoms of presence of deep defects. Furthermore, the CZTS/ZnS MIS structure is strongly resilient to leakage currents at both forward and reverse voltage bias where contribution from deep defects is minimized and maximized, respectively.
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8. |
- Goffard, Julie, et al.
(author)
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Light Trapping in Ultrathin CIGS Solar Cells withNanostructured Back Mirrors
- 2017
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In: IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics. - 2156-3381 .- 2156-3403. ; 7:5, s. 1433-1441
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Novel architectures for light trapping in ultrathinCu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells are proposed and numericallyinvestigated. They are composed of a flat CIGS layer withnanostructured back mirrors made of highly reflective metals.Multi-resonant absorption is obtained for two different patternsof nanostructured mirrors. It leads to a dramatic increase in theshort-circuit current predicted for solar cells with very thin CIGSlayers. We analyze the resonance phenomena and the density ofphotogenerated carriers in the absorber. We discuss the impactof the material used for the buffer layer (CdS and ZnS) and theback mirror (Mo, Cu, Au, and Ag). We investigate various CIGSthicknesses from 100 to 500 nm, and we compare our numericalresults with experimental data taken from the literature. Wepredict a short-circuit current of Jsc = 33.6 mA/cm2 for a realisticsolar cell made of a 200-nm-thick CIGS absorber with a coppernanostructured mirror. It opens a way toward ultrathin CIGSsolar cells with potential conversion efficiencies up to 20%.
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9. |
- Gouillart, Louis, et al.
(author)
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Reflective Back Contacts for Ultrathin Cu(In,Ga)Se2-Based Solar Cells
- 2020
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In: IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics. - 2156-3381 .- 2156-3403. ; 10:1, s. 250-254
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report on the development of highly reflective back contacts (RBCs) made of multilayer stacks for ultrathin CIGS solar cells. Two architectures are compared: they are made of a silver mirror coated either with a single layer of In 2 O 3 :Sn (ITO) or with a bilayer of ZnO:Al/ITO. Due to the improvement of CIGS rear reflectance, both back contacts result in a significant external quantum efficiency enhancement, in agreement with optical simulations. However, solar cells fabricated with Ag/ITO back contacts exhibit a strong shunting behavior. The key role of the ZnO:Al layer to control the morphology of the top ITO layer and to avoid silver diffusion through the back contact is highlighted. For a 500-nm-thick CIGS layer, this optimized RBC leads to a best cell with a short-circuit current of 27.8 mA/cm 2 (+2.2 mA/cm 2 as compared to a Mo back contact) and a 12.2%-efficiency (+2.5% absolute).
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10. |
- Hultqvist, Adam, et al.
(author)
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Buffer Layer Point Contacts for CIGS Solar Cells Using Nanosphere Lithography and Atomic Layer Deposition
- 2017
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In: IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). - 2156-3381 .- 2156-3403. ; 7:1, s. 322-328
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Point contacts provide an interesting approach for reducing the buffer layer/Cu(In, Ga)Se-2 interface recombination that typically limits Cu(In, Ga) Se-2 solar cell performance when nontoxic alternatives to CdS buffer layers are used. In this study, we implement a scheme to create a point contact buffer layer on Cu(In, Ga)Se-2 solar cells using a combination of atomic layer deposition and nanosphere lithography. While we showcase these buffer layers using Al2O3 as the passivating material, ZnO as the conductive material, and a silica nanosphere size of 310 nm in diameter, this scheme is general and could readily be applied for other materials and other sphere sizes. The resulting solar cells with Al2O3 and ZnO point contact buffer layers demonstrate successful application of this scheme, yielding a higher conversion efficiency (6.58 +/- 0.58%) than either of the binary buffer layers Al2O3 (0%) and ZnO (5.15 +/- 0.57%). The improvement over ZnO is mainly due to an increased open circuit voltage, which is an indication of a reduced surface recombination.
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