Doping in Efficient Polycrystalline CdSeTe Solar Cells via AsCl3 Vapor Annealing

Duan, Xiaomeng; Li, Deng-Bing; Neupane, Sabin; Awni, Rasha; Wang, Yizhao; Mansfield, Lorelle M.; Lu, Dingyuan; Becker, James; Ellingson, Randy J.; Heben, Michael J.; Xiong, Gang; Yan, Yanfa; Yan, Feng

doi:10.1021/acsaem.4c03173

Doping in Efficient Polycrystalline CdSeTe Solar Cells via AsCl₃ Vapor Annealing

Journal Article · Mon Mar 24 00:00:00 EDT 2025 · ACS Applied Energy Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaem.4c03173· OSTI ID:2558949

Duan, Xiaomeng ^[1]; Li, Deng-Bing ^[2]; ^[2]; Awni, Rasha ^[2]; Wang, Yizhao ^[1]; ^[3]; Lu, Dingyuan ^[4]; Becker, James ^[5]; ^[2]; ^[2]; Xiong, Gang ^[4]; ^[2]; ^[1]

Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)
Univ. of Toledo, OH (United States)
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
First Solar, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (United States). California Technology Center
First Solar, Inc., Perrysburg, OH (United States)

Doping in cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film solar cells is a critical step in producing highly efficient CdTe solar modules. To date, copper (Cu) ex-situ diffusion doping and group V in situ doping (such as arsenic, As) have been effectively used in manufacturing CdTe solar modules. However, Cu doping is prone to rapid degradation, whereas the low activation ratio of the dopants constrains group V in situ doping. Recently, ex-situ group V doping has been developed, showing an improved doping activation ratio through a solution process. Here, in this study, we developed a vapor-based AsCl₃ doping method for diffusion doping of polycrystalline CdSeTe devices. AsCl₃ vapor annealing can promote the diffusion of As into the bulk CdSeTe through a surface chemical reaction between CdTe and AsCl₃. This approach has led to a long carrier lifetime of over 72 ns, V_oc of 850 mV, and power conversion efficiency of ~18% with Au metal electrodes. The vapor-based ex situ group V doping approach offers an effective means to perform group V diffusion doping into the CdSeTe device.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 2558949

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA--5K00-93105

Journal Information:: ACS Applied Energy Materials, Journal Name: ACS Applied Energy Materials Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 8; ISSN 2574-0962

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (26)

Heterojunction Annealing Enabling Record Open‐Circuit Voltage in Antimony Triselenide Solar Cells Tang, Rong; Chen, Shuo; Zheng, Zhuang‐Hao Advanced Materials, Vol. 34, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202109078	journal	February 2022
Suppressing Buried Interface Nonradiative Recombination Losses Toward High‐Efficiency Antimony Triselenide Solar Cells Chen, Guojie; Luo, Yandi; Abbas, Muhammad Advanced Materials, Vol. 36, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202308522	journal	December 2023
Energy Band Alignment and Defect Synergistic Regulation Enable Air‐Solution‐Processed Kesterite Solar Cells With the Lowest V_OC Deficit Zhao, Yunhai; Chen, Xingye; Chen, Shuo Advanced Materials, Vol. 37, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202409327	journal	November 2024
Understanding the Role of CdTe in Polycrystalline CdSe _x Te _{1– x} /CdTe‐Graded Bilayer Photovoltaic Devices Shah, Akash; Pandey, Ramesh; Nicholson, Anthony Solar RRL, Vol. 5, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1002/solr.202100523	journal	October 2021
A novel CdTe ink-assisted direct synthesis of CdTe thin films for the solution-processed CdTe solar cells Rahman, Md. Ferdous; Hossain, Jaker; Kuddus, Abdul Journal of Materials Science, Vol. 55, Issue 18 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-020-04578-7	journal	March 2020
In Situ Arsenic Doping of CdTe/Si by Molecular Beam Epitaxy Farrell, S.; Barnes, T.; Metzger, W. K. Journal of Electronic Materials, Vol. 44, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-015-3913-3	journal	July 2015
Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy: Practical aspects and best practices Whitten, James E. Applied Surface Science Advances, Vol. 13 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsadv.2023.100384	journal	February 2023
Ex situ bismuth doping for efficient CdSeTe thin-film solar cells with open-circuit voltages exceeding 900 mV Neupane, Sabin; Li, Deng-Bing; Abudulimu, Abasi Joule, Vol. 9, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2024.09.013	journal	January 2025
Growth behavior and morphology evolution of interfacial (Cu,Ni)6Sn5 in (001)Cu/Sn/Ni micro solder joints Lai, Yanqing; Chen, Shi; Ren, Xiaolei Materials Characterization, Vol. 186 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchar.2022.111803	journal	April 2022
Control of Cu doping and CdTe/Te interface modification for CdTe solar cells Wang, Taowen; Du, Sheng; Li, Wei Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing, Vol. 72 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mssp.2017.09.013	journal	December 2017
Study of thin film poly-crystalline CdTe solar cells presenting high acceptor concentrations achieved by in-situ arsenic doping Kartopu, G.; Oklobia, O.; Turkay, D. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 194 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2019.02.025	journal	June 2019
Remarkable Sb₂Se₃ Solar Cell with a Carbon Electrode by Tailoring Film Growth during the VTD Process Wang, Weihuang; Cao, Zixiu; Wu, Li ACS Applied Energy Materials, Vol. 4, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaem.1c03055	journal	November 2021
The Crystal and Electronic Structures of Cd ₃ As ₂ , the Three-Dimensional Electronic Analogue of Graphene Ali, Mazhar N.; Gibson, Quinn; Jeon, Sangjun Inorganic Chemistry, Vol. 53, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1021/ic403163d	journal	March 2014
CdTe solar cells with open-circuit voltage breaking the 1 V barrier Burst, J. M.; Duenow, J. N.; Albin, D. S. Nature Energy, Vol. 1, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1038/nenergy.2016.15	journal	February 2016
Exceeding 20% efficiency with in situ group V doping in polycrystalline CdTe solar cells Metzger, W. K.; Grover, S.; Lu, D. Nature Energy, Vol. 4, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-019-0446-7	journal	August 2019
Low-temperature and effective ex situ group V doping for efficient polycrystalline CdSeTe solar cells Li, Deng-Bing; Yao, Canglang; Vijayaraghavan, S. N. Nature Energy, Vol. 6, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-021-00848-z	journal	June 2021
Comment on ’’A simple measurement of absolute solar cell efficiency’’ Dalal, Vikram L.; Rothwarf, Allen Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 50, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.326181	journal	April 1979
A comprehensive picture of Cu doping in CdTe solar cells Perrenoud, J.; Kranz, L.; Gretener, C. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 114, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4828484	journal	November 2013
Carrier density and lifetime for different dopants in single-crystal and polycrystalline CdTe Burst, James M.; Farrell, Stuart B.; Albin, David S. APL Materials, Vol. 4, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4966209	journal	November 2016
Doping properties of cadmium-rich arsenic-doped CdTe single crystals: Evidence of metastable AX behavior Nagaoka, Akira; Kuciauskas, Darius; Scarpulla, Michael A. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 111, Issue 23 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4999011	journal	December 2017
Effects of Cd vacancies and unconventional spin dynamics in the Dirac semimetal Cd ₃ As ₂ Koumoulis, Dimitrios; Taylor, Robert E.; McCormick, Jeffrey The Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 147, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4999467	journal	August 2017
Dependence of the Minority-Carrier Lifetime on the Stoichiometry of CdTe Using Time-Resolved Photoluminescence and First-Principles Calculations Ma, Jie; Kuciauskas, Darius; Albin, David Physical Review Letters, Vol. 111, Issue 6, Article No. 067402 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.067402	journal	August 2013
Correlation of Built-In Potential and I–V Crossover in Thin-Film Solar Cells Moore, James E.; Dongaonkar, Sourabh; Chavali, Raghu Vamsi Krishna IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 4, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2014.2316364	journal	July 2014
TEM study of Locations of Cu in CdTe Solar Cells Yan, Yanfa; Jones, Kim; Zhou, Jie MRS Proceedings, Vol. 1012 https://doi.org/10.1557/PROC-1012-Y04-09	journal	January 2007
Characterization of thin CdTe solar cells with a CdSeTe front layer Bothwell, Alexandra M.; Drayton, Jennifer A.; Jundt, Pascal M. MRS Advances, Vol. 4, Issue 37 https://doi.org/10.1557/adv.2019.332	journal	July 2019
Property Improvement of GaAs Surface by 1-Octadecanethiol Passivation Zhou, Lu; Chu, Xuefeng; Chi, Yaodan Crystals, Vol. 9, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst9030130	journal	March 2019

Similar Records

Low-temperature and effective ex situ group V doping for efficient polycrystalline CdSeTe solar cells

Journal Article · Wed Jun 23 20:00:00 EDT 2021 · Nature Energy · OSTI ID:1779418

A New Low-Temperature Approach for Efficient and Low-Cost Group V Doping in CdTe Thin Film Solar Cells (Final Technical Report)

Technical Report · Tue Dec 13 23:00:00 EST 2022 · OSTI ID:1905478

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
AsCl3 vapor annealing
Group V doping
Polycrystalline CdSeTe solar cells
SOLAR ENERGY
carrier lifetime
ex situ doping
photovoltaics

Doping in Efficient Polycrystalline CdSeTe Solar Cells via AsCl3 Vapor Annealing

Citation Formats

References (26)

Similar Records

Related Subjects

Doping in Efficient Polycrystalline CdSeTe Solar Cells via AsCl₃ Vapor Annealing