Correlation of Interfacial Transportation Properties of CdS/CdTe Heterojunction and Performance of CdTe Polycrystalline Thin-Film Solar Cells

Zeng, Guanggen; Zhang, Jingquan; Wang, Wenwu; Feng, Li

doi:10.1155/2015/519386

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…As a result, the η of the cell declined by 20.0%. This degradation was caused not only by the increase in R s (9.2%), but also by the decrease in R sh as a function of the transportation properties of thermally excited electrons through the barriers at the interface [23]. The representative photocurrent and dark current curves of cells with performances close to the average performance of all the cells are shown in Figure 6.…”

Section: Devices Performancesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Application of ALD-Al2O3 in CdS/CdTe Thin-Film Solar Cells

et al. 2019

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The application of thinner cadmium sulfide (CdS) window layer is a feasible approach to improve the performance of cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin film solar cells. However, the reduction of compactness and continuity of thinner CdS always deteriorates the device performance. In this work, transparent Al2O3 films with different thicknesses, deposited by using atomic layer deposition (ALD), were utilized as buffer layers between the front electrode transparent conductive oxide (TCO) and CdS layers to solve this problem, and then, thin-film solar cells with a structure of TCO/Al2O3/CdS/CdTe/BC/Ni were fabricated. The characteristics of the ALD-Al2O3 films were studied by UV–visible transmittance spectrum, Raman spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The light and dark J–V performances of solar cells were also measured by specific instrumentations. The transmittance measurement conducted on the TCO/Al2O3 films verified that the transmittance of TCO/Al2O3 were comparable to that of single TCO layer, meaning that no extra absorption loss occurred when Al2O3 buffer layers were introduced into cells. Furthermore, due to the advantages of the ALD method, the ALD-Al2O3 buffer layers formed an extremely continuous and uniform coverage on the substrates to effectively fill and block the tiny leakage channels in CdS/CdTe polycrystalline films and improve the characteristics of the interface between TCO and CdS. However, as the thickness of alumina increased, the negative effects of cells were gradually exposed, especially the increase of the series resistance (Rs) and the more serious “roll-over” phenomenon. Finally, the cell conversion efficiency (η) of more than 13.0% accompanied by optimized uniformity performances was successfully achieved corresponding to the 10 nm thick ALD-Al2O3 thin film.

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Section: Devices Performancesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Application of ALD-Al2O3 in CdS/CdTe Thin-Film Solar Cells

et al. 2019

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“…Here, the calculated imaginary dielectric constants with the red-shift for each TCO material proves that the absorbance is dependent on the imaginary part of the dielectric constant and the lowest absorbance value is related to the ITO material. In addition, at room temperature, the transparency and uniformity of the ITO are better compared to the SnO 2 :F [71]. From the presented analysis, the 200 nm ITO layer shows the most stable properties to make an optimum CdTe cell structure [72].…”

Section: Modelling Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Optical Losses of Frontal Layers in Superstrate CdS/CdTe Solar Cells Using OPAL2

2021

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In this paper, optical losses in CdS/CdTe solar cells are calculated on the basis of the designated reflective index of various frontal layers using an OPAL2 calculator for the first time. Two types of glass (0.1 mm ultra-thin Schott and 1.1 mm standard borosilicate glass) were assumed to be coated by different Transparent-Conducting-Oxides (TCOs) such as SnO2:F, ZnO:Al, and ITO forming frontal layers for CdS/CdTe solar cells in superstrate configuration. Absorption, reflectance, transmittance, and consequently optical bandgap energies are calculated as a function of common thicknesses, used in the literature. The results show that an increase in TCO thickness led to a decrease in optical band gap as well as an enhancement in contact potential difference, which can deteriorate device performance. The optimum thickness of 100 nm for SnO2:F was calculated, while 200 nm for ZnO:Al and ITO show reasonable optical losses caused by reflections at the interfaces’ and the layer’s absorption. It is seen that 80 to 150 nm CdS on ITO might be an effective range to satisfy a high short circuit current and low defect densities at the CdS/CdTe interface. Finally, a minimum 2 μm thickness for the CdTe on the ultra-thin Schott glass coated by optimum layers can result in the highest short circuit current of 28.69 mA/cm2. This work offers a practical equivalent strategy to be applied for any superstrate solar cells containing TCO and CdS frontal layers.

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Electronic structures and optical properties of the CdTe/CdS heterojunction interface from the first-principles calculations

Tan

Zhang

et al. 2018

Physica B: Condensed Matter

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Correlation of Interfacial Transportation Properties of CdS/CdTe Heterojunction and Performance of CdTe Polycrystalline Thin-Film Solar Cells

Cited by 4 publications

References 38 publications

Application of ALD-Al2O3 in CdS/CdTe Thin-Film Solar Cells

Application of ALD-Al2O3 in CdS/CdTe Thin-Film Solar Cells

Optical Losses of Frontal Layers in Superstrate CdS/CdTe Solar Cells Using OPAL2

Electronic structures and optical properties of the CdTe/CdS heterojunction interface from the first-principles calculations

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