CdTe solar cells with open-circuit voltage breaking the 1 V barrier

Burst, James M.; Duenow, Joel N.; Albin, David S.; Colegrove, Eric; Reese, Matthew O.; Aguiar, J. Albino; Jiang, C.-S.; Patel, Maulik; Al‐Jassim, Mowafak; Kuciauskas, Darius; Swain, Santosh K.; Ablekim, Tursun; Lynn, Kelvin G.; Metzger, Wyatt K.

doi:10.1038/nenergy.2016.15

Cited by 355 publications

(186 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…The layers grown at 1400 mV shows better coverage of the substrate, although the grains are smaller. It should be noted that based on new material and device understanding in CdS/CdTe-based solar cell, the richness of Cd in CdTe layer has been demonstrated as more advantageous in high-efficiency device fabrication [21][22][23][24] as compared to Te-rich CdTe absorber layer. Figure 8 shows the compositional analysis of as-deposited and CdCl 2 treated CdTe layers using EDX results.…”

Section: Morphological and Compositional Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, cathodic voltages closer to the intrinsic voltage (V i ) would be favourable for the fabrication of devices due to high crystallinity, better optical and morphological properties achieved in stoichiometric or near-stoichiometric CdTe layers. It should be noted that based on the understanding as published by Dharmadasa et al (2002) [21,30,31] and new results as published by independent researchers such as Reese et al (2015) [23] and Burst et al (2016) [22], fabricating devices with slightly Cd-rich CdTe is favourable due to increased carrier lifetime, defect reduction amongst other advantages.…”

Section: Resistivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Analysis of electrodeposited CdTe thin films grown using cadmium chloride precursor for applications in solar cells

Ojo

Dharmadasa

2017

J Mater Sci: Mater Electron

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Section: Morphological and Compositional Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resistivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of electrodeposited CdTe thin films grown using cadmium chloride precursor for applications in solar cells

Ojo

Dharmadasa

2017

J Mater Sci: Mater Electron

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“…Utilization of both thickness and phase data allowed computation of mean inner potential as V 0 (CdTe) ¼ 14.0 6 0.9 V, within the range of previous theoretical estimates. CdTe is a II-VI compound semiconductor material, with attractive properties for a number of energy 1 and imaging applications. 2 These properties include a direct bandgap in the infrared region (1.5 eV), and a relatively high density of 5.85 g/cm 3 (which confers enhanced stopping power for high energy radiation).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Determination of the mean inner potential of cadmium telluride via electron holography

Cassidy

Dhar

Shintake

2017

Applied Physics Letters

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Mean inner potential is a fundamental material parameter in solid state physics and electron microscopy and has been experimentally measured in CdTe, a technologically important semiconductor. As a first step, the inelastic mean free path for electron scattering in CdTe was determined, using electron energy loss spectroscopy, to enable precise thickness mapping of thin CdTe lamellae. The obtained value was λi(CdTe, 300 kV) = 192 ± 10 nm. This value is relatively large, given the high density of the material, and is discussed in the text. Next, electron diffraction and specimen tilting were employed to identify weakly diffracting lattice orientations, to enable the straightforward measurement of the electron phase shift. Finally, electron holography was utilized to quantitatively map the phase shift experienced by electron waves passing through a CdTe crystal, with several different propagation vectors. Utilization of both thickness and phase data allowed computation of mean inner potential as V0 (CdTe) = 14.0 ± 0.9 V, within the range of previous theoretical estimates.

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“…Therefore, in practice, one needs to balance the hole density and the carrier lifetime by optimally matching the incorporation temperature and the Cd chemical potential. Experimentally, it's known that a high hole density above with a carrier lifetime of tens of nanoseconds is sufficient to approach V oc of 1 V. 30 In the case of extremely Cd-poor conditions, the optimal incorporation temperature would be around 600─700 K according to our simulations [ Fig. 2(c)].…”

mentioning

confidence: 78%

Carrier providers or killers: The case of Cu defects in CdTe

Yang

Metzger

Wei

2017

Applied Physics Letters

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Defects play important roles in semiconductors for optoelectronic applications.Common intuition is that defects with shallow levels act as carrier providers and defects with deep levels are carrier killers. Here, taking the Cu defects in CdTe as an example, we show that shallow defects can play both roles. Using first-principles calculation methods combined with thermodynamic simulations, we study the dialectic effects of Cu-related defects on hole density and lifetime in bulk CdTe over a wide range of Cu incorporation conditions. Because Cu Cd can form a relatively shallow acceptor in CdTe, we find that increased Cu incorporation into CdTe indeed can help achieve high hole density; however, too much Cu can cause significant nonradiative recombination. We discuss two strategies to balance the contradictory effects of Cu defects based on the calculated impact of Cd chemical potential, copper defect concentrations, and incorporation temperature on lifetime and hole density. The results indicates that to optimize the Cu doping in CdTe, it is important to control the total amount of Cu incorporated into CdTe and optimize the match between the Cu incorporation temperature and the Cd chemical potential. These findings can help understand the roles of Cu defects in CdTe and the potential complex defect behaviors of relatively shallow defect states in semiconductors for optoelectronic applications.

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CdTe solar cells with open-circuit voltage breaking the 1 V barrier

Cited by 355 publications

References 44 publications

Analysis of electrodeposited CdTe thin films grown using cadmium chloride precursor for applications in solar cells

Analysis of electrodeposited CdTe thin films grown using cadmium chloride precursor for applications in solar cells

Determination of the mean inner potential of cadmium telluride via electron holography

Carrier providers or killers: The case of Cu defects in CdTe

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