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Title: Impact of Carrier Concentration and Carrier Lifetime on MgZnO/CdSeTe/CdTe Solar Cells

Journal Article · · IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics

Here, the performance impact of multiple parameters related to the use of MgZnO (MZO) as the emitter for bilayer CdSeTe/CdTe solar cells has been investigated in detail through numerical simulations. Such a comprehensive study is particularly important, because while cell fabrication using MZO has been highly successful in some cases, it has been less so in others, and it has not been clear which combinations of parameter values are most effective. The parameters considered here include the recombination velocity at the emitter/absorber interface, bulk recombination lifetime, and the carrier concentrations of the emitter and absorber. The ranges chosen for the simulation parameters are those most likely to be found experimentally. The primary finding is that independent of the interfacial recombination velocity and bulk recombination lifetime, the MZO carrier density should be > 1017 cm-3 and in any case greater than that of the absorber to reduce interface recombination. At the same time, a shallow dopant the order of 50 meV or less should reduce SRH recombination in the bulk and enable VOC > 1V.

Research Organization:
Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
Grant/Contract Number:
EE0008557; EE0007543
OSTI ID:
1670802
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1721474
Journal Information:
IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 10, Issue 6; ISSN 2156-3381
Publisher:
IEEECopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English