Sputtered p-Type CuxZn1–xS Back Contact to CdTe Solar Cells

Woods-Robinson, Rachel; Ablekim, Tursun; Norman, Andrew; Johnston, Steve; Persson, Kristin A.; Reese, Matthew O.; Metzger, Wyatt K.; Zakutayev, Andriy

doi:10.1021/acsaem.0c00413

Sputtered p-Type Cu_xZn_1–xS Back Contact to CdTe Solar Cells

Journal Article · Wed May 06 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · ACS Applied Energy Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaem.0c00413· OSTI ID:1660149

^[1]; ^[2]; Norman, Andrew ^[2]; Johnston, Steve ^[2]; ^[3]; ^[2]; Metzger, Wyatt K. ^[2]; ^[2]

Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

As thin-film cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cells gain prominence, one particular challenge is optimizing contacts and their interfaces to transfer charge without losses in efficiency. Back contact recombination is still significant and will prevent CdTe solar technology from reaching its full potential in device efficiency, and transparent back contacts have not been developed for bifacial solar technology or multijunction solar cells. To address these challenges, here we investigate sputtered Cu_xZn_1–xS as a p-type semi-transparent back contact material to thin-film polycrystalline CdTe solar cells at Cu concentrations x = 0.30, 0.45, and 0.60. This material is selected for its high hole conductivity (160–2120 S cm^–1), wide optical band gap (2.25–2.75 eV), and variable ionization potential (approximately 6–7 eV) that can be aligned to that of CdTe. We report that without device optimization, CdTe solar cells with these Cu_xZn_1–xS back contacts perform as well as control cells with standard ZnTe:Cu back contacts. We observe no reduction in external quantum efficiency, low contact barrier heights of approximately 0.3 eV, and carrier lifetimes on par with those of baseline CdTe. These cells are relatively stable over one year in air, with V_OC and efficiency of the x = 0.30 cell decreasing by only 1 and 3%, respectively. Using scanning electron microscopy and scanning transmission electron microscopy to investigate the Cu_xZn_1–xS/CdTe interface, we demonstrate that the Cu_xZn_1–xS layer segregates into a bilayer of Cu-Te-S and Zn-Cd-S, and thermodynamic reaction calculations support these findings. Despite its bilayer formation, the back contact still functions well. This investigation explains some of the physical mechanisms governing the device stack, inspires future work to understand interfacial chemistry and charge transfer, and elicits optimization to achieve higher-efficiency CdTe cells.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231; AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1660149

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1769313

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA--5K00-76204; MainId:6987; UUID:dc3d219f-f857-ea11-9c31-ac162d87dfe5; MainAdminID:15204

Journal Information:: ACS Applied Energy Materials, Journal Name: ACS Applied Energy Materials Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 3; ISSN 2574-0962

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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