Band Edge Positions and Their Impact on the Simulated Device Performance of ZnSnN2-Based Solar Cells

Arca, Elisabetta; Fioretti, Angela; Lany, Stephan; Tamboli, Adele C.; Teeter, Glenn; Melamed, Celeste; Pan, Jie; Wood, Kevin N.; Toberer, Eric; Zakutayev, Andriy

doi:10.1109/JPHOTOV.2017.2766522

Title: Band Edge Positions and Their Impact on the Simulated Device Performance of ZnSnN₂-Based Solar Cells

Abstract

ZnSnN₂ (ZTN) has been proposed as a new earth abundant absorber material for PV applications. While carrier concentration has been reduced to values suitable for device implementation, other properties such as ionization potential, electron affinity and work function are not known. Here, we experimentally determine the value of ionization potential (5.6 eV), electron affinity (4.1 eV) and work function (4.4 eV) for ZTN thin film samples with Zn cation composition Zn/(Zn+Sn) = 0.56 and carrier concentration n = 2x10¹⁹cm^-3. Using both experimental and theoretical results, we build a model to simulate the device performance of a ZTN/Mg:CuCrO₂ solar cell, showing a potential efficiency of 23% in the limit of no defects present. We also investigate the role of band tails and recombination centers on the cell performance. In particular device simulations show that band tails are highly detrimental to the cell efficiency, and recombination centers are a major limitation if present in concentration comparable to the net carrier density. The effect of the position of the band edges of the p-type junction partner was assessed too. Through this study, we determine the major bottlenecks for the development of ZTN-based solar cell and identify avenues to mitigate them.

Authors:

Arca, Elisabetta ^[1]; Fioretti, Angela ^[1]; Lany, Stephan ^[1]; Tamboli, Adele C. ^[1]; Teeter, Glenn ^[1]; Melamed, Celeste ^[1]; Pan, Jie ^[1]; Wood, Kevin N. ^[1]; Toberer, Eric ^[1]; Zakutayev, Andriy ^[1]

National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Publication Date:: Thu Dec 07 00:00:00 EST 2017

Research Org.:: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)

OSTI Identifier:: 1416527

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5K00-70378
Journal ID: ISSN 2156-3381

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 8; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2156-3381

Publisher:: IEEE

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 14 SOLAR ENERGY; 71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; diodes; photovoltaic cells; semiconductor device modeling; vacuum levels measurements

Citation Formats


                    Arca, Elisabetta, Fioretti, Angela, Lany, Stephan, Tamboli, Adele C., Teeter, Glenn, Melamed, Celeste, Pan, Jie, Wood, Kevin N., Toberer, Eric, and Zakutayev, Andriy. Band Edge Positions and Their Impact on the Simulated Device Performance of ZnSnN2-Based Solar Cells.  United States: N. p., 2017. 
Web.  doi:10.1109/JPHOTOV.2017.2766522.

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                    Arca, Elisabetta, Fioretti, Angela, Lany, Stephan, Tamboli, Adele C., Teeter, Glenn, Melamed, Celeste, Pan, Jie, Wood, Kevin N., Toberer, Eric, & Zakutayev, Andriy. Band Edge Positions and Their Impact on the Simulated Device Performance of ZnSnN2-Based Solar Cells.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2017.2766522

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                    Arca, Elisabetta, Fioretti, Angela, Lany, Stephan, Tamboli, Adele C., Teeter, Glenn, Melamed, Celeste, Pan, Jie, Wood, Kevin N., Toberer, Eric, and Zakutayev, Andriy. Thu .  
"Band Edge Positions and Their Impact on the Simulated Device Performance of ZnSnN2-Based Solar Cells".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2017.2766522.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1416527.

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@article{osti_1416527,

  title        = {Band Edge Positions and Their Impact on the Simulated Device Performance of ZnSnN2-Based Solar Cells},

  author       = {Arca, Elisabetta and Fioretti, Angela and Lany, Stephan and Tamboli, Adele C. and Teeter, Glenn and Melamed, Celeste and Pan, Jie and Wood, Kevin N. and Toberer, Eric and Zakutayev, Andriy},

  abstractNote = {ZnSnN2 (ZTN) has been proposed as a new earth abundant absorber material for PV applications. While carrier concentration has been reduced to values suitable for device implementation, other properties such as ionization potential, electron affinity and work function are not known. Here, we experimentally determine the value of ionization potential (5.6 eV), electron affinity (4.1 eV) and work function (4.4 eV) for ZTN thin film samples with Zn cation composition Zn/(Zn+Sn) = 0.56 and carrier concentration n = 2x1019cm-3. Using both experimental and theoretical results, we build a model to simulate the device performance of a ZTN/Mg:CuCrO2 solar cell, showing a potential efficiency of 23% in the limit of no defects present. We also investigate the role of band tails and recombination centers on the cell performance. In particular device simulations show that band tails are highly detrimental to the cell efficiency, and recombination centers are a major limitation if present in concentration comparable to the net carrier density. The effect of the position of the band edges of the p-type junction partner was assessed too. Through this study, we determine the major bottlenecks for the development of ZTN-based solar cell and identify avenues to mitigate them.},

  doi          = {10.1109/JPHOTOV.2017.2766522},

  journal      = {IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics},

  number       = 1,

  volume       = 8,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Thu Dec 07 00:00:00 EST 2017},

  month        = {Thu Dec 07 00:00:00 EST 2017}

}

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Band Gaps, Band‐Offsets, Disorder, Stability Region, and Point Defects in II‐IV‐N ₂ Semiconductors
journal, February 2019

Lyu, Sai; Skachkov, Dmitry; Kash, Kathleen
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DOI: 10.1002/pssa.201800875

Finding a junction partner for candidate solar cell absorbers enargite and bournonite from electronic band and lattice matching
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Wallace, Suzanne K.; Butler, Keith T.; Hinuma, Yoyo
Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 125, Issue 5
DOI: 10.1063/1.5079485

Band alignment of III-N, ZnO and II–IV-N ₂ semiconductors from the electron affinity rule
journal, October 2019

Lyu, Sai; Lambrecht, Walter R. L.
Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, Vol. 53, Issue 1
DOI: 10.1088/1361-6463/ab4baa

Finding a junction partner for candidate solar cell absorbers enargite and bournonite from electronic band and lattice matching
text, January 2018

Wallace, Suzanne K.; Butler, Keith T.; Hinuma, Yoyo
arXiv
DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1810.13219

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Title: Band Edge Positions and Their Impact on the Simulated Device Performance of ZnSnN2-Based Solar Cells

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Title: Band Edge Positions and Their Impact on the Simulated Device Performance of ZnSnN₂-Based Solar Cells

Band Gaps, Band‐Offsets, Disorder, Stability Region, and Point Defects in II‐IV‐N ₂ Semiconductors
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