Understanding arsenic incorporation in CdTe with atom probe tomography

Journal Article · 21 March 2018 · Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2018.02.023 · OSTI ID:1431043

Burton, G. L. ^[1]; Diercks, D. R. ^[1]; Ogedengbe, O. S. ^[2]; Jayathilaka, P. A. R. D. ^[2]; Edirisooriya, M. ^[2]; Myers, T. H. ^[2]; Zaunbrecher, K. N. ^[3]; Moseley, J. ^[4]; Barnes, T. M. ^[4]; Gorman, B. P. ^[1]

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1. Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)
2. Texas State Univ., San Marco, TX (United States)
3. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States)
4. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Overcoming the open circuit voltage deficiency in Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) photovoltaics may be achieved by increasing p-type doping while maintaining or increasing minority carrier lifetimes. Here, routes to higher doping efficiency using arsenic are explored through an atomic scale understanding of dopant incorporation limits and activation in molecular beam epitaxy grown CdTe layers. Atom probe tomography reveals spatial segregation into nanometer scale clusters containing > 60 at% As for samples with arsenic incorporation levels greater than 7-8 x 10^17 cm-3. The presence of arsenic clusters was accompanied by crystal quality degradation, particularly the introduction of arsenic-enriched extended defects. Post-growth annealing treatments are shown to increase the size of the As precipitates and the amount of As within the precipitates.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S), SunShot Foundational Program to Advance Cell Efficiency (F-PACE II)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 1431043
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1548578
• Report Number(s): NREL/JA--5K00-71229
• Journal Information: Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Journal Name: Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells Journal Issue: C Vol. 182; ISSN 0927-0248
• Publisher: ElsevierCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English