Development of copper sulfide/cadmium sulfide thin-film solar cells. Eleventh technical progress report, January 1-March 31, 1982

Technical Report · Thu Aug 26 04:00:00 EDT 1982

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6748208· OSTI ID:6748208

Szedon, J. R.

The objective of the program reported is to characterize and improve the stability of Cu/sub 2/S/CdS thin-film solar cells having conversion efficiency values of 9% or greater. Specifically, the current phase is concerned with identifying mechanisms which degrade cell performance, improving the stability of cells by encapsulation, and improving the intrinsic stability of the cells by modifying the cell structure during or after fabrication. No rapid component of short-circuit current loss due to aging in moist oxygen was found. For the first 54 hours of aging results can be fitted using a single time constant with a value of about 30 hours. Information was obtained on the rate of change of the effective density of donors in the CdS space-charge region, which modulates the tunnelling opposing current that controls open-circuit voltage behavior in these cells. An increase in the density of donors of about 70% during 400 hours of aging was observed. The increase could be fit to an exponential function with a time constant of about 35 hours. (LEW)

• Research Organization: Westinghouse Research and Development Center, Pittsburgh, PA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-77CH00178
• OSTI ID: 6748208
• Report Number(s): SERI/PR-8143-1-T10; ON: DE83001421
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140501* -- Solar Energy Conversion-- Photovoltaic Conversion
AGING
CADMIUM SULFIDE SOLAR CELLS
CARRIER DENSITY
CHALCOGENIDES
COPPER COMPOUNDS
COPPER SULFIDES
CURRENTS
DATA
DEPLETION LAYER
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
ELEMENTS
ENCAPSULATION
EQUIPMENT
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FILMS
HETEROJUNCTIONS
INFORMATION
JUNCTIONS
LAYERS
NONMETALS
NUMERICAL DATA
OXYGEN
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
SEMICONDUCTOR JUNCTIONS
SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
STABILITY
SULFIDES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
THIN FILMS
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
TUNNEL EFFECT