Investigating the Role of Grain Boundaries in CZTS and CZTSSe Thin Film Solar Cells with Scanning Probe Microscopy

Li, Joel B.; Chawla, Vardaan; Clemens, Bruce M.

doi:10.1002/adma.201103470

Cited by 304 publications

(227 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Nevertheless, for high efficiency solar cells the processes used for CIGS solar cells will need to be tuned. The buffer layer, in particular, will have to be tailored in order to adjust the lattice-matching, the valence and band offsets with CZTS; -the grain boundaries (GB) seem to have the same beneficial properties for CZTS as for CIGS, such as enhanced minority carrier collection taking place at the GB [30].…”

Section: Advantages Of Cztsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Kësterite thin films for photovoltaics : a review

2012

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In the years to come, electricity production is bound to increase, and Cu2ZnSn(S, Se)4 (CZTS) compounds, due to their suitability to thin-film solar cells, could be a means to fulfill the demand. After explaining the reasons of the sudden interest of the CIGS scientific community for CZTS solar cells, this paper reviews recent papers published on the subject of kësterites-based solar cells. After a description of crystallographic and optoelectronic properties, including CZTS crystalline structure, defect formation and metal composition, this review paper focuses on CZTS synthesis processes and device properties. Synthesis strategies, including one-or two-step processes, deposition temperature, binary formation control via atmosphere control and their effect on device properties are discussed.

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Section: Advantages Of Cztsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Kësterite thin films for photovoltaics : a review

2012

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“…Since current thin-film technologies mostly rely on polycrystalline materials, physical properties of extended defects, especially grain boundaries (GBs) have been investigated to understand their effects on the device efficiency [10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. Other extended defects like stacking faults (SFs) and antisite domain boundaries (ADBs) have been less documented as compared to the GBs, but since SFs in CdTe act as electron barriers and reduce the efficiency [17][18][19][20], SFs in CZTS should be investigated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Opposing effects of stacking faults and antisite domain boundaries on the conduction band edge in kesterite quaternary semiconductors

Park

Kim

Walsh

2018

Phys. Rev. Materials

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We investigated stability and the electronic structure of extended defects including antisite domain boundaries and stacking faults in the kesterite-structured semiconductors, Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 (CZTS) and Cu 2 ZnSnSe 4 (CZTSe). Our hybrid density functional theory calculations show that stacking faults in CZTS and CZTSe induce a higher conduction band edge than the bulk counterparts, and thus the stacking faults act as electron barriers. Antisite domain boundaries, however, accumulate electrons as the conduction band edge is reduced in energy, having an opposite role. An Ising model was constructed to account for the stability of stacking faults, which shows the nearest-neighbor interaction is stronger in the case of the selenide.

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“…Overall, the average roughness of Sb2Se3 film is 23 nm, while the average surface potential difference is a very low (much below kT) 9.1 mV. The surface potential fluctuations are extremely small compared to CIGS and CZTS films (generally >100 mV in a 2.5 μm x 2.5 μm zone 9,25 ). In an illustrative line scan crossing the GBs (Fig.…”

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confidence: 96%

“…Typical examples are the carefully engineered Cu deficient GBs in CIGS solar cells 23,24 and a high temperature CdCl2 treatment for CdTe solar cells 24,25 .…”

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confidence: 99%