Development of ZnTe film with high copper doping efficiency for solar cells

Abstract

Since a hole barrier was formed in back contact due to mismatch of work function, the back contact material for CdTe cell has been a significant research direction. The ZnTe:Cu is an ideal back contact material, which reduces the valence band discontinuity and can be used as the electron back reflection layer to inhibit interface recombination. The conductivity of ZnTe:Cu film is improved by applying RF-coupled DC sputtering and post-deposition heat treatment. The doping efficiency is computed as the ratio of free hole density and copper concentration, which can be correlated with performance for CdTe-based solar cell. The higher doping efficiency means that more copper atoms substitute for Zn sites in ZnTe lattices and less mobilized copper atoms remain which can enter into the CdTe absorber layer. Copper atoms are suspected as dominant element for CdTe-based cell degradation. After optimizing the ZnTe:Cu films, a systematic study is carried out to incorporate ZnTe:Cu film into CdTe solar cell. The EQE spectrum is kept relatively stable over the long wavelength range without decreasing. It is proved that the conduction band barrier of device with ZnTe:Cu/Au contact material has an effect on the EQE response, which works as free electron barrier and reduces the recombination rate of free carrier. According to the dark J–V data or the light J–V data in the linear region, the current indicates that the intercept gives the diode reverse saturation current. The results of ideality factor indicate that the dominant recombination occurs in the space charge region. In addition, the space charge density and depletion width of solar cell can be estimated by C–V profiling.