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Tailoring MgZnO/CdSeTe Interfaces for Photovoltaics

Journal Article · · IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics
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  1. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  2. Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States)
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MgxZn1-xO (MZO) shows great promise to replace CdS as a buffer layer in CdTe-based solar cells. It is more transparent, and the MZO bandgap and electron density can be tuned, thus providing flexibility in controlling the conduction band offsets and recombination rates between transparent conductive oxide/MZO and MZO/CdSeTe interfaces. Integrating this material into solar cell devices has been frustrated by the common observation of abnormal current-voltage curves. Simulations indicate that this anomalous behavior can be attributed to front interface barrier effects. Experiments demonstrate that this common MZO interface problem can be resolved experimentally by surface preparation, preheat steps, and removing oxygen during absorber deposition and CdCl2 treatment. Oxygen during the cell fabrication process is likely to alter MZO properties and MZO/CdSeTe band alignment. After addressing these interface issues and modest optimization, devices with high short-circuit density of 29 mA/cm2 and efficiency above 16% are demonstrated.
Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1514844
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA--5K00-72393
Journal Information:
IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Journal Name: IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 9; ISSN 2156-3381
Publisher:
IEEECopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Cited By (1)

Recombination and bandgap engineering in CdSeTe/CdTe solar cells journal July 2019

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Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
MgxZn1-xO
cadmium telluride
conduction band offset
interface
thin film solar cells