High-efficiency copper ternary thin film solar cells

Technical Report · Fri Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1989

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5206355· OSTI ID:5206355

Kapur, V K; Basol, B M; Kullberg, R C ^[1]

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1. International Solar Electric Technology, Inglewood, CA (USA)

This report describes a project to develop a high efficiency thin film CuInSe{sub 2} solar cell using a low-cost process. The two-stage process involves depositing the metallic elements of Cu and In on a substrate in the form of stacked layers, and then selenizing this stacked metallic film in an atmosphere containing Se. Early research concentrated on the electrodeposition technique for depositing the Cu and In films on Mo-coated glass substrates. This resulted in small-area cells with around 10% efficiency, indicating that the technique could yield CuInSe{sub 2} films with good electrical and optical properties. The program then involved scaling up the electrodeposition/selenization technique; fixtures for large-area plating were designed and built, but poor adhesion of the CuInSe{sub 2} films to the Mo-coated substrates and the stoichiometric non-uniformities encountered in the large-area films hindered the efficiency of the devices. The latter part of the program explored a new approach to the two-stage process. An evaporation/selenization approach, where the elemental layers were evaporated onto the Mo-coated substrates for selenization. Solar cells have been produced with efficiencies approaching 11% using E-beam evaporated/selenized CuInSe{sub 2} films. 9 refs., 14 figs., 2 tabs.

• Research Organization: Solar Energy Research Inst., Golden, CO (USA); International Solar Electric Technology, Inglewood, CA (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE/CE
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-83CH10093
• OSTI ID: 5206355
• Report Number(s): SERI/STR-211-3574; ON: DE89009470
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140501* -- Solar Energy Conversion-- Photovoltaic Conversion
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360601 -- Other Materials-- Preparation & Manufacture
CONVERSION
COPPER
DEPOSITION
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
DOCUMENT TYPES
EFFICIENCY
ELECTRODEPOSITION
ELECTROLYSIS
ELEMENTS
ENERGY CONVERSION
EQUIPMENT
EVAPORATION
FABRICATION
FILMS
INDIUM
LYSIS
METALS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CONVERSION
PROGRESS REPORT
SELENIUM
SEMIMETALS
SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SURFACE COATING
THIN FILMS
TRANSITION ELEMENTS