Diverse simulations of time-resolved photoluminescence in thin-film solar cells: A SnO2/CdSeyTe1-y case study

Moseley, John; Krasikov, Dmitry; Lee, Chungho; Kuciauskas, Darius

doi:10.1063/5.0063028

Title: Diverse simulations of time-resolved photoluminescence in thin-film solar cells: A SnO₂/CdSe_yTe_1-y case study

Journal Article · Thu Oct 28 00:00:00 EDT 2021 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0063028· OSTI ID:1832870

^[1];

^[2]; Lee, Chungho ^[3];

^[1]

National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
First Solar, Perrysburg, OH (United States)
First Solar, Santa Clara. CA (United States)

Time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) is widely used to measure carrier lifetime in thin-film solar cell absorbers. However, the injection dependence of data and frequent non-exponential decay shapes complicate the interpretation. Here, we develop a numerical model to simulate injection-dependent TRPL measurements in a SnO₂/CdSe_yTe_1-y case study solar cell structure, considering parameters of interest to researchers in industry and academia. Previous simulations have shown that, in low injection, excess electrons and holes injected by the laser pulse are rapidly separated in the electric field formed by the pn junction. As a result, at early times, the PL signal can decay faster than the Shockley-Read-Hall lifetime in the absorber bulk (t_bulk). Prior simulations have shown that the charge stored in the junction can slowly leak out to affect decays at late times. However, it has not been clear if and to what degree charge storage can affect the slopes extracted from TRPL decays - t_2 - commonly cited as the TRPL-measured lifetime. Here, we show that charge storage can, in some cases, result in t_2 values that substantially overestimate t_bulk. Previous simulations indicate that high injection conditions can screen the junction field and minimize charge separation. Here, we show that continued injection increases can drive down t_2 below t_bulk as radiative recombination becomes dominant. We catalog charge storage and radiative recombination impacts for a diverse set of material parameters and compare results to double-heterostructure models.

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Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308; 34350

OSTI ID:: 1832870

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1828211

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5K00-80287; MainId:42490; UUID:c561c154-49ee-449a-94c4-10e4e50fcb09; MainAdminID:63358

Journal Information:: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 130, Issue 16; ISSN 0021-8979

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Title: Diverse simulations of time-resolved photoluminescence in thin-film solar cells: A SnO2/CdSeyTe1-y case study

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Title: Diverse simulations of time-resolved photoluminescence in thin-film solar cells: A SnO₂/CdSe_yTe_1-y case study