Effect of Back Contact and Rapid Thermal Processing Conditions on Flexible CdTe Device Performance
Flexible CdTe solar cells on ultra-thin glass substrates can enable new applications that require high specific power, unique form-factors, and low manufacturing costs. To be successful, these cells must be cost competitive, have high efficiency, and have high reliability. Here we present back contact processing conditions that enabled us to achieve over 16% efficiency on flexible Corning (R) Willow (R) Glass substrates. We used co-evaporated ZnTe:Cu and Au as our back contact and used rapid thermal processing (RTP) to activate the back contact. Both the ZnTe to Cu ratio and the RTP activation temperature provide independent control over the device performance. We have investigated the influence of various RTP conditions to Cu activation and distribution. Current density-voltage, capacitance-voltage measurements along with device simulations were used to examine the device performance in terms of ZnTe to Cu ratio and rapid thermal activation temperature.
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE SunShot Foundational Program to Advance Cell Efficiency (F-PACE)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- OSTI ID:
- 1250675
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/CP-5K00-63603
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Presented at the 2015 IEEE 42nd Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC), 14-19 June 2015, New Orleans, Louisiana; Related Information: Proceedings of the 2015 IEEE 42nd Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC), 14-19 June 2015, New Orleans, Louisiana
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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