Passivation and thickness control of highly efficient kesterite solar cells

Antunez, Priscilla D.; Li, Siming; Bishop, Douglas M.; Farmer, Damon B.; Gershon, Talia S.; Baxter, Jason B.; Haight, Richard

doi:10.1063/1.5037093

Title: Passivation and thickness control of highly efficient kesterite solar cells

Journal Article · Thu Jul 19 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5037093· OSTI ID:1540221

Antunez, Priscilla D. ^[1]; Li, Siming ^[2];

^[1]; Farmer, Damon B. ^[1]; Gershon, Talia S. ^[1];

^[2]; Haight, Richard ^[1]

IBM TJ Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY (United States)
Drexel Univ., Philadelphia, PA (United States)

Kesterite Cu₂ZnSn(S_xSe_1-x)₄ (CZTSSe) is an attractive photovoltaic absorber material because of its tunable bandgap, earth abundance, and low toxicity. However, efficiency and open circuit voltage remain significantly below theoretical limits. We recently showed that back-contact engineering with MoO₃/Au on exfoliated vapor-deposited kesterite solar cells can improve device performance. In this work, we demonstrate more promising results, which translate into high power conversion efficiencies of up to 12.2% for solution-deposited CZTSe with thicknesses as low as 1.1 μm. Time-resolved terahertz spectroscopy of exfoliated films showed significantly faster recombination at the back surface than at the front. When atomic layer deposited Al₂O₃ was used to passivate the exposed back surface of exfoliated films, front and back surfaces showed nearly identical recombination dynamics. After thermally depositing high work function MoO₃ and reflective Au as the back contact on the Al₂O₃-passivated absorber, we obtained devices with efficiencies of up to 11.6%. Applying the same strategy of exfoliating working devices and engineering the back contact resulted in efficiencies of up to 12.2% for passivation with a 10 nm layer of Se instead of Al₂O₃. Lastly, further development of such passivation and back-contact engineering approaches may lead to higher efficiency devices with absorber thicknesses below 1 μm.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

View Accepted Manuscript (Publisher)

Cite

Export

Save

Research Organization:: International Business Machines Corp., Armonk, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0006334

OSTI ID:: 1540221

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1460917

Journal Information:: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 113, Issue 3; ISSN 0003-6951

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

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Citation Metrics:

Cited by: 4 works

Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (9)

Employing time-resolved terahertz spectroscopy to analyze carrier dynamics in thin-film Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 absorber layers Guglietta, Glenn W.; Choudhury, Kaushik Roy; Caspar, Jonathan V. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 104, Issue 25 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4884817	journal	June 2014
Nanoscale Characterization of Back Surfaces and Interfaces in Thin-Film Kesterite Solar Cells Sardashti, Kasra; Chagarov, Evgueni; Antunez, Priscilla D. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Vol. 9, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.7b01838	journal	May 2017
Intragrain charge transport in kesterite thin films—Limits arising from carrier localization Hempel, Hannes; Redinger, Alex; Repins, Ingrid Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 120, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4965868	journal	November 2016
Indications of short minority-carrier lifetime in kesterite solar cells Repins, I. L.; Moutinho, H.; Choi, S. G. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 114, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4819849	journal	August 2013
Device Characteristics of CZTSSe Thin-Film Solar Cells with 12.6% Efficiency Wang, Wei; Winkler, Mark T.; Gunawan, Oki Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 4, Issue 7, Article No. 1301465 https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201301465	journal	November 2013
Terahertz Spectroscopy Baxter, Jason B.; Guglietta, Glenn W. Analytical Chemistry, Vol. 83, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1021/ac200907z	journal	June 2011
Development of rear surface passivated Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ thin film solar cells with nano-sized local rear point contacts Vermang, Bart; Fjällström, Viktor; Pettersson, Jonas Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 117, p. 505-511 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2013.07.025	journal	October 2013
Atomic Layer Deposited Aluminum Oxide for Interface Passivation of Cu ₂ ZnSn(S,Se) ₄ Thin-Film Solar Cells Lee, Yun Seog; Gershon, Talia; Todorov, Teodor K. Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 6, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201600198	journal	April 2016
Back Contact Engineering for Increased Performance in Kesterite Solar Cells Antunez, Priscilla D.; Bishop, Douglas M.; Lee, Yun Seog Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 7, Issue 15 https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201602585	journal	May 2017

Cited By (2)

Effect of solid-H ₂ S gas reactions on CZTSSe thin film growth and photovoltaic properties of a 12.62% efficiency device Son, Dae-Ho; Kim, Seung-Hyun; Kim, Se-Yun Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Vol. 7, Issue 44 https://doi.org/10.1039/c9ta08310c	journal	January 2019
Back and front contacts in kesterite solar cells: state-of-the-art and open questions Platzer-Björkman, Charlotte; Barreau, Nicolas; Bär, Marcus Journal of Physics: Energy, Vol. 1, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7655/ab3708	journal	October 2019

Similar Records

Back Contact Engineering for Increased Performance in Kesterite Solar Cells

Journal Article · Tue May 02 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Advanced Energy Materials · OSTI ID:1540221

Antunez, Priscilla D.; Bishop, Douglas M.; Lee, Yun Seog; +6 more

Over 11% Efficient Eco-Friendly Kesterite Solar Cell: Effects of S-Enriched Surface of Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 Absorber and Band Gap Controlled (Zn,Sn)O Buffer

Journal Article · Mon Aug 10 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Nano Energy · OSTI ID:1540221

Lee, Jiwon; Enkhbat, Temujin; Han, Gyuho; +6 more