A method is proposed and tested which allows for the accurate determination of the carrier collection efficiency and minority carrier diffusion length in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells using energy dependent electron beam induced current. Gallium composition gradients across the film thickness introduce quasielectric fields that are found to improve collection efficiency when they are located toward the rear of the sample. The quasielectric fields are also shown to reduce the influence of back surface recombination. The strengths and limitations of this technique are discussed and compared with external quantum efficiency measurements.
We report the fabrication of an 11.6% efficient, polycrystalline thin-film CdS/CdTe solar cell in which both semiconductor layers were deposited by planar-magnetron-radio-frequency sputtering at 380 °C on commercially available soda-lime float-glass substrates coated with SnO2:F. We show that the magnetron magnetic field is critical to obtaining high cell efficiency. Much stronger photoluminescence and higher electrical conductivity are found in films and cells grown with unbalanced-field magnetrons. The magnetic field dependence is interpreted as arising from the enhanced electron and ion bombardment of the film growth interface when unbalanced magnetrons are used.
We report the longitudinal optical (LO) phonon frequencies for thin films of the ternary alloy CdSxTe1−x and their composition dependence for the full range of x values from pure CdTe to pure CdS. Pulsed laser deposition was used to prepare the polycrystalline thin films including compositions well inside the miscibility gap. We find that this ternary system exhibits a “two-mode” behavior with CdS- and CdTe-like longitudinal optic phonon modes. The modified random-element isodisplacement model yields a good description of the composition dependence of the LO phonon frequencies.
Equations describing the electroluminescence (EL) intensity as a function of material properties are derived for thin film solar cells and experimentally validated using Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells. EL intensity at constant voltage is controlled by the electronic properties of the neutral bulk even when the diode current is controlled by recombination in the space charge region. Using a combination of techniques, it is found that recombination in the quasineutral bulk does not correlate with recombination in the space charge region. Differences between EL measurements on thin film cells and crystalline silicon cells are discussed including the effects of secondary barriers.
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