Fabrication of high efficiency sputtered CdS:O/CdTe thin film solar cells from window/absorber layer growth optimization in magnetron sputtering

Islam, Mohammad Aminul; Rahman, Kazi Sajedur; Sobayel, K.; Enam, T.; Ali, Amjad; Zaman, Mukter; Akhtaruzzaman, Md.; Amin, Nowshad

doi:10.1016/j.solmat.2017.08.020

Cited by 48 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…The results were well supported by the EQE measurement, as shown in Figure D. It is well known that the EQE curve can be divided into two regions, where Region 1 (300‐600 nm) is greatly dependent on carrier generation, transport, and recombination near the p‐n junction region, whereas Region 2 (600 nm and above) corresponds to the effective transport of photogenerated carriers at the bulk and back contact of solar cells . The EQE in Region 1 was reduced for the PID‐affected module owing to the elevation of carrier recombination at the front side of the solar cell dominated by surface defects.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 65%

“…It is well known that the EQE curve can be divided into two regions, where Region 1 (300-600 nm) is greatly dependent on carrier generation, transport, and recombination near the p-n junction region, whereas Region 2 (600 nm and above) corresponds to the effective transport of photogenerated carriers at the bulk and back contact of solar cells. 40,41 The EQE in Region 1 was reduced for the PID-affected module owing to the elevation of carrier recombination at the front side of the solar cell dominated by surface defects. On the other hand, the increases of carrier recombination at the bulk of p-type Si base due to the increase of uncompensated Si bonds influenced by PID in the devices may be the root causes for the decrease of EQEs in Region 2.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Transient carrier recombination dynamics in potential‐induced degradation p‐type single‐crystalline Si photovoltaic modules

Islam

Matsuzaki

Okabayashi

et al. 2019

Progress in Photovoltaics

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In this study, we investigated the recombination dynamics of minority carriers through the decay profile analysis of transient diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (TDRS) for fresh and potential‐induced degradation (PID) modules. The PID‐affected region in terms of the degradation degree on the modules was firstly localized using conventional methods such as electroluminescence (EL) and lock‐in thermal images. The photogenerated carrier density and carrier lifetime were different in photovoltaic (PV) modules in fresh and PID modes. It was found that the dominant recombination involved the carrier transition via shallow trap states. The distribution of the trap states, however, was extended from the surface to the bulk of the solar cell due to Na ions–decorated defects. The behaviors of the carrier dynamics near the surface and bulk were very different, as inferred from the two different pump wavelengths of 532 and 1064 nm, respectively.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 65%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transient carrier recombination dynamics in potential‐induced degradation p‐type single‐crystalline Si photovoltaic modules

Islam

Matsuzaki

Okabayashi

et al. 2019

Progress in Photovoltaics

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“…The highest sulfur-to-tungsten ratio (1: 1.55) was found at 200 W deposition power. Grain size was calculated with ImageJ software 29 , and the results revealed that grain size increased with the deposition power. The highest grain size of 76.25 nm was found at 150 W deposition power, whereas the lowest of 4.86 nm was found at 50 W deposition power.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Full device fabrication included the stack of five layers, namely, indium tin oxide (ITO) for the transparent conducting oxide, the n-type WS 2 window layer, the p-type absorber CdTe, Cu-doped graphite paste for improved ohmic contact, and silver (Ag) as back contact. The complete cell was fabricated by sputtering as reported by previous researchers 29 . Figure 1 represents the structure and full cell device fabrication process.…”

Section: Full Device Fabrication the Optimized Ws 2 Thin Film Was Inmentioning

confidence: 99%

WS2: A New Window Layer Material for Solar Cell Application

Sobayel

Amin

Alharbi

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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Radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering was used to deposit tungsten disulfide (WS 2) thin films on top of soda lime glass substrates. The deposition power of RF magnetron sputtering varied at 50, 100, 150, 200, and 250 W to investigate the impact on film characteristics and determine the optimized conditions for suitable application in thin-film solar cells. Morphological, structural, and opto-electronic properties of as-grown films were investigated and analyzed for different deposition powers. All the WS 2 films exhibited granular morphology and consisted of a rhombohedral phase with a strong preferential orientation toward the (101) crystal plane. Polycrystalline ultra-thin WS 2 films with bandgap of 2.2 eV, carrier concentration of 1.01 × 10 19 cm −3 , and resistivity of 0.135 Ω-cm were successfully achieved at RF deposition power of 200 W. The optimized WS 2 thin film was successfully incorporated as a window layer for the first time in CdTe/WS 2 solar cell. initial investigations revealed that the newly incorporated WS 2 window layer in CdTe solar cell demonstrated photovoltaic conversion efficiency of 1.2% with V oc of 379 mV, J sc of 11.5 mA/cm 2 , and FF of 27.1%. This study paves the way for WS 2 thin film as a potential window layer to be used in thin-film solar cells.

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“…Particularly, using HRT materials as a buffer layer beneath of the cadmium sulfide (CdS) layers in cadmium telluride (CdTe), copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS) and copperzinc-tin-sulfide (CZTS) thin-film solar cells can significantly ameliorate the pin-hole problem that is created due to the ultrathin CdS layer ((≤100 nm). In general, the ultra-thin CdS layer is being used in these solar cells for minimizing the considerable absorption in the blue region by CdS thin film [1][2][3]. However, the ultra-thin CdS layer adversely affects the cell efficiency via increasing pin-hole (discontinuity) and locally shorted the absorber material with TCO and front contact, which leads to excessive shunting or unwarranted forward current, and therefore negatively affects the solar cell efficiency [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tailoring of the Structural and Optoelectronic Properties of Zinc-Tin-Oxide Thin Films via Oxygenation Process for Solar Cell Application

et al. 2020

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In this study, the impact of compositional variation of highly resistivity transparent (HRT) metal oxide ZTO deposited by co-sputtered technique has been studied. The atomic composition has been tailored by the change of RF power and subsequent thermal oxygenation in mixed nitrogen and oxygen atmosphere. A phase transition from ZnSnO3 to ZnSnO4 was observed in the X-ray diffraction spectra, indicating the possible oxygen incorporation into the films during the thermal annealing process. Uniform microstructures with compact interconnected grains of around 6-7 nm were found in SEM images while no significant changes been observed upon oxygenation. Besides, the significant alteration of electronic properties was noticed as an effect of compositional variation via oxygenation. All the films showed above 85% of optical transmittance in the visible light spectrum. The optimum optoelectronic properties for RF power has been determined as of 50W (ZnO) and 10W (SnO2) via thermal oxygenation at 400 o C where the ratio O/(Zn+Sn) become around 1.6. The significant effect of oxygenation has been realized via primarily fabricated solar cells where the cell with ZnSnO4 HRT shows higher efficiency than the ZnSnO3.

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Fabrication of high efficiency sputtered CdS:O/CdTe thin film solar cells from window/absorber layer growth optimization in magnetron sputtering

Cited by 48 publications

References 42 publications

Transient carrier recombination dynamics in potential‐induced degradation p‐type single‐crystalline Si photovoltaic modules

Transient carrier recombination dynamics in potential‐induced degradation p‐type single‐crystalline Si photovoltaic modules

WS2: A New Window Layer Material for Solar Cell Application

Tailoring of the Structural and Optoelectronic Properties of Zinc-Tin-Oxide Thin Films via Oxygenation Process for Solar Cell Application

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