15% efficient Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells obtained by low-temperature pulsed electron deposition

Rampino, Stefano; Armani, N.; Bissoli, F.; Bronzoni, Matteo; Calestani, Davide; Calicchio, M.; Delmonte, Nicola; Gilioli, E.; Gombia, E.; Mosca, R.; Nasi, L.; Pattini, F.; Zappettini, A.; Mazzer, M.

doi:10.1063/1.4755772

Cited by 51 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 28 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The basic characteristics of the LTPED process were described in a previous paper [11] where the fabrication of CIGS solar cells exceeding 15% efficiency was reported for the first time. The key specifications of the deposition process used in this work are described in Section 4.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Progress on Low-Temperature Pulsed Electron Deposition of CuInGaSe2 Solar Cells

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:The quest for single-stage deposition of CuInGaSe 2 (CIGS) is an open race to replace very effective but capital intensive thin film solar cell manufacturing processes like multiple-stage coevaporation or sputtering combined with high pressure selenisation treatments. In this paper the most recent achievements of Low Temperature Pulsed Electron Deposition (LTPED), a novel single stage deposition process by which CIGS can be deposited at 250˝C, are presented and discussed. We show that selenium loss during the film deposition is not a problem with LTPED as good crystalline films are formed very close to the melting temperature of selenium. The mechanism of formation of good ohmic contacts between CIGS and Mo in the absence of any MoSe 2 transition layers is also illustrated, followed by a brief summary of the measured characteristics of test solar cells grown by LTPED. The 17% efficiency target achieved by lab-scale CIGS devices without bandgap modulation, antireflection coating or K-doping is considered to be a crucial milestone along the path to the industrial scale-up of LTPED. The paper ends with a brief review of the open scientific and technological issues related to the scale-up and the possible future applications of the new technology.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Progress on Low-Temperature Pulsed Electron Deposition of CuInGaSe2 Solar Cells

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In order to overcome environmental issues of the typical thin film solar cells and, most importantly, to remove any possible limitations in mass production connected with material scarcity (mainly In and Ga), in 1996 Katagiri et al [2] introduced a new device with Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 (CZTS) as the absorber layer. This cell has a similar device structure of the Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 (CIGS) solar cells [3], but indium and gallium are substituted with the more abundant zinc and tin.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

SnS Thin Film Solar Cells: Perspectives and Limitations

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:Thin film solar cells have reached commercial maturity and extraordinarily high efficiency that make them competitive even with the cheaper Chinese crystalline silicon modules. However, some issues (connected with presence of toxic and/or rare elements) are still limiting their market diffusion. For this reason new thin film materials, such as Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 or SnS, have been introduced so that expensive In and Te, and toxic elements Se and Cd, are substituted, respectively, in CuInGaSe 2 and CdTe. To overcome the abundance limitation of Te and In, in recent times new thin film materials, such as Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 or SnS, have been investigated. In this paper we analyze the limitations of SnS deposition in terms of reproducibility and reliability. SnS deposited by thermal evaporation is analyzed by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. The raw material is also analyzed and a different composition is observed according to the different number of evaporation (runs). The sulfur loss represents one of the major challenges of SnS solar cell technology.

show abstract

“…This characterization could correspond to the morphology and structure in the front statement that MoB5 and MoB10 samples showed better grain size, purity and uniformity than the MoB0 and MoB30 samples. Similar to the CIGS from the direction of the morphology and structure, good grain size and pure phase would lead to better solar cell electrical performance (Ye et al, 2010;Rampino et al, 2012). …”

Section: Current-voltage Characteristics Of the Cztse Filmsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Sodium (Na) incorporated into Cu (In, Ga)Se 2 (CIGS) absorbers enhances a solar cell's open circuit voltage and fill factor by passivating defects at the cadmium sulfide (CdS) and CIGS junctions, thereby improving the solar cell efficiency (Erslev et al,2009;Thongkham et al,2013;Rudmann et al,2004) Due to the similarity between CIGS and Cu 2 ZnSn(S, Se) 4 (CZTSSe), sodium diffusion in CZTSSe thin films was found to affect the grain size, crystal texture, and conductivity of the CZTSSe (Prabhakar and Jampana, 2011). Co-evaporating CZTS to substrates containing Na led to higher Hole concentrations, increased carrier mobility, and improved solar cell efficiencies (Li et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%