Incorporation of CdSe layers into CdTe thin film solar cells

Baines, Tom, Zoppi, Guillaume, Bowen, Leon, Shalvey, Thomas P., Mariotti, Silvia, Durose, Ken and Major, Jonathan D. (2018) Incorporation of CdSe layers into CdTe thin film solar cells. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 180. pp. 196-204. ISSN 0927-0248

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Abstract

Incorporation of CdSe layers into CdTe thin film solar cells has recently emerged as a route to improve cell performance. It has been suggested that the formation of lower band gap CdTe(1-x)Se(x) phases following Se diffusion induces bandgap grading which may increase the carrier lifetime and thereby open circuit voltage. In this study we investigate the impact of CdSe incorporation on CdTe solar cell performance. We demonstrate that the standard CdS/CdTe device architecture is incompatible with Se incorporation, owing to large optical losses. An alternative cell structure with an oxide partner layer replacing the CdS with SnO2/CdSe/CdTe is developed, leading to cell efficiencies of > 13.5%. The differences in processing required for effective selenium incorporation are investigated with performance improvements resulting from additional post-growth annealing. Finally, other oxides such as TiO2, ZnO and FTO are demonstrated to be unsuitable partner layers but highlight that the choice of partner layer is key to further improving the performance.

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