Colossal grain growth in Cd(Se,Te) thin films and their subsequent use in CdTe epitaxy by close-spaced sublimation

Albin, David S.; Amarasinghe, Mahisha; Reese, Matthew O.; Moseley, John; Moutinho, Helio; Metzger, Wyatt K.

doi:10.1088/2515-7655/abd297

Title: Colossal grain growth in Cd(Se,Te) thin films and their subsequent use in CdTe epitaxy by close-spaced sublimation

Abstract

Many technologies deposit thin films on inexpensive substrates, resulting in small grains due to classic nucleation and grain growth theory. For example, state-of-the-art solar cells are made by depositing CdSeTe and CdTe layers on inexpensive glass coated with nanocrystalline transparent conducting oxides (TCOs), like SnO₂. Characteristically, the grain size of these films is on the order of the film thickness, i.e. a few microns. CdTe small-grain films have poor electro-optical properties and require CdCl₂ passivation which fails to fully passivate grain boundaries, causes carrier compensation, and prevents implementing other II–VI alloys and materials to improve performance. Here, we present a method to increase grain size to 1 mm in CdSe_xTe_1-x thin films deposited on glass/TCO substrates without CdCl₂ treatment. The colossal grain growth is driven by mechanisms distinct from classic nucleation, grain growth, and Ostwald ripening and only occurs at low selenium content (x ~ 0.1). We also demonstrate how these films can serve as templates for subsequent large-grain epitaxy of other compositions like CdTe, again without exposure to CdCl₂. The results open new paths for thin film solar cell technology, and thin film devices in general.

Authors:

^[1]; Amarasinghe, Mahisha ^[2]; Reese, Matthew O. ^[1]; Moseley, John ^[1]; Moutinho, Helio ^[1]; Metzger, Wyatt K. ^[1]

National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Univ. of Illinois, Chicago, IL (United States)

Publication Date:: Thu Jan 28 00:00:00 EST 2021

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

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office

OSTI Identifier:: 1768277

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5K00-77878
Journal ID: ISSN 2515-7655; MainId:31787;UUID:e341f528-b6e8-4d7c-a9ee-cd6e6f70c3ac;MainAdminID:19626

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308; EE0008552; 34345; 34353

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: JPhys Energy

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 3; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 2515-7655

Publisher:: IOP Publishing

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; CdTe; polycrystalline thin film; epitaxy; morphology; nucleation and growth; grain size; solar cell

Citation Formats


                    Albin, David S., Amarasinghe, Mahisha, Reese, Matthew O., Moseley, John, Moutinho, Helio, and Metzger, Wyatt K. Colossal grain growth in Cd(Se,Te) thin films and their subsequent use in CdTe epitaxy by close-spaced sublimation.  United States: N. p., 2021. 
Web.  doi:10.1088/2515-7655/abd297.

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                    Albin, David S., Amarasinghe, Mahisha, Reese, Matthew O., Moseley, John, Moutinho, Helio, & Metzger, Wyatt K. Colossal grain growth in Cd(Se,Te) thin films and their subsequent use in CdTe epitaxy by close-spaced sublimation.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7655/abd297

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                    Albin, David S., Amarasinghe, Mahisha, Reese, Matthew O., Moseley, John, Moutinho, Helio, and Metzger, Wyatt K. Thu .  
"Colossal grain growth in Cd(Se,Te) thin films and their subsequent use in CdTe epitaxy by close-spaced sublimation".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7655/abd297.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1768277.

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@article{osti_1768277,

  title        = {Colossal grain growth in Cd(Se,Te) thin films and their subsequent use in CdTe epitaxy by close-spaced sublimation},

  author       = {Albin, David S. and Amarasinghe, Mahisha and Reese, Matthew O. and Moseley, John and Moutinho, Helio and Metzger, Wyatt K.},

  abstractNote = {Many technologies deposit thin films on inexpensive substrates, resulting in small grains due to classic nucleation and grain growth theory. For example, state-of-the-art solar cells are made by depositing CdSeTe and CdTe layers on inexpensive glass coated with nanocrystalline transparent conducting oxides (TCOs), like SnO2. Characteristically, the grain size of these films is on the order of the film thickness, i.e. a few microns. CdTe small-grain films have poor electro-optical properties and require CdCl2 passivation which fails to fully passivate grain boundaries, causes carrier compensation, and prevents implementing other II–VI alloys and materials to improve performance. Here, we present a method to increase grain size to 1 mm in CdSexTe1-x thin films deposited on glass/TCO substrates without CdCl2 treatment. The colossal grain growth is driven by mechanisms distinct from classic nucleation, grain growth, and Ostwald ripening and only occurs at low selenium content (x ~ 0.1). We also demonstrate how these films can serve as templates for subsequent large-grain epitaxy of other compositions like CdTe, again without exposure to CdCl2. The results open new paths for thin film solar cell technology, and thin film devices in general.},

  doi          = {10.1088/2515-7655/abd297},

  journal      = {JPhys Energy},

  number       = 2,

  volume       = 3,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Thu Jan 28 00:00:00 EST 2021},

  month        = {Thu Jan 28 00:00:00 EST 2021}

}

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Title: Colossal grain growth in Cd(Se,Te) thin films and their subsequent use in CdTe epitaxy by close-spaced sublimation

Abstract

Citation Formats

Anneal induced recrystallization of CdTe films electrodeposited on stainless steel foil: The effect of CdCl2 journal, September 2005

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Explosive recrystallization during pulsed laser irradiation journal, October 1984

Roles of bandgrading, lifetime, band alignment, and carrier concentration in high-efficiency CdSeTe solar cells journal, August 2020

Bifacial configurations for CdTe solar cells journal, September 2007

Long carrier lifetimes in large-grain polycrystalline CdTe without CdCl2 journal, June 2016

Grain Growth in CdTe Films During CdCl 2 Treatment: TeCl 4 Theory conference, June 2019

Phase Diagram of the CdTe-CdSe Pseudobinary System journal, January 1970

Formation of giant-grain copper interconnects by a low-energy ion bombardment process for high-speed ULSIs journal, August 1995

Observations on the “explosive” crystallization of non-crystalline Ge journal, February 1975

Exceeding 20% efficiency with in situ group V doping in polycrystalline CdTe solar cells journal, August 2019

Crystallization‐front velocity during scanned laser crystallization of amorphous Ge films journal, August 1980

Carrier density and lifetime for different dopants in single-crystal and polycrystalline CdTe journal, November 2016

Epitaxy and heterogeneous nucleation theory journal, July 1969

Review of data for the surface tension of pure metals journal, January 1993

Shock crystallization of films journal, April 1983

New Noncrystalline Germanium which Crystallizes ``Explosively'' at Room Temperature journal, March 1972

Beneficial effect of post-deposition treatment in high-efficiency Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells through reduced potential fluctuations journal, August 2016

Band alignment of front contact layers for high-efficiency CdTe solar cells journal, December 2016

Fundamental Aspects of High Speed Crystal Growth from the Melt journal, January 1984

Anneal induced recrystallization of CdTe films electrodeposited on stainless steel foil: The effect of CdCl2
journal, September 2005

Explosive crystallization of amorphous germanium
journal, February 1981

Electron-beam-induced ‘‘explosive’’ crystallization of amorphous ${Se}_{80}$ ${Te}_{20}$ alloy thin films and oriented growth of crystallites
journal, January 1988

Kinetic Simulations of Cu Doping in Chlorinated CdSeTe PV Absorbers
journal, February 2019

Overcoming Carrier Concentration Limits in Polycrystalline CdTe Thin Films with In Situ Doping
journal, September 2018

Experimental and theoretical comparison of Sb, As, and P diffusion mechanisms and doping in CdTe
journal, January 2018

Numerical simulation of high-efficiency, scalable, all-back-contact Cd(Se,Te) solar cells
journal, June 2020

Post deposition surface treatments to enhance the quality of polycrystalline CdTe thin films for photovoltaic applications
journal, July 2018

On a peculiar phænomenon in the electro-deposition of antimony
journal, January 1855

Relationship of Open-Circuit Voltage to CdTe Hole Concentration and Lifetime
journal, November 2016

The roles of carrier concentration and interface, bulk, and grain-boundary recombination for 25% efficient CdTe solar cells
journal, June 2017

Impact of dopant-induced optoelectronic tails on open-circuit voltage in arsenic-doped Cd(Se)Te solar cells
journal, September 2020

Interface Engineering for 25% CdTe Solar Cells
journal, September 2018

Recombination and bandgap engineering in CdSeTe/CdTe solar cells
journal, July 2019

Observations of propagation in shock-crystallization of sputtered amorphous germanium films
journal, November 1973

Influence of the average surface roughness on the formation of superhydrophobic polymer surfaces through spin-coating with hydrophobic fumed silica
journal, April 2015

Effect of selenium and chlorine co-passivation in polycrystalline CdSeTe devices
journal, October 2019

Scalable ultrafast epitaxy of large-grain and single-crystal II-VI semiconductors
journal, February 2020

In-depth analysis of chloride treatments for thin-film CdTe solar cells
journal, October 2016

Tailoring MgZnO/CdSeTe Interfaces for Photovoltaics
journal, May 2019

Electron beam induced explosive crystallization of unsupported amorphous germanium thin films
journal, January 1984

Fabrication procedures and process sensitivities for CdS/CdTe solar cells
journal, September 1999

Explosive Crystallization in a-Ge and a-Si : A Review
journal, January 1982

Structural and electronic properties of CdTe _1-x Se _x films and their application in solar cells
journal, August 2018

CdCl2 treatment, S diffusion, and recombination in polycrystalline CdTe
journal, May 2006

CdTe solar cells with open-circuit voltage breaking the 1 V barrier
journal, February 2016

General equation describing wetting of rough surfaces
journal, August 2011

Heat of crystallization and melting point of amorphous silicon
journal, April 1983

Effect of CdCl2 passivation treatment on microstructure and performance of CdSeTe/CdTe thin-film photovoltaic devices
journal, November 2018

Density of amorphous Si
journal, January 1994

Ultra-thin bifacial CdTe solar cell
journal, September 2007

Texture development in polycrystalline thin films
journal, July 1995

Current Enhancement of CdTe-Based Solar Cells
journal, September 2015

High p-type doping, mobility, and photocarrier lifetime in arsenic-doped CdTe single crystals
journal, May 2018

Analysis and optimisation of the glass/TCO/MZO stack for thin film CdTe solar cells
journal, December 2018

Explosive Crystallization in Atomic Layer Deposited Mixed Titanium Oxides
journal, July 2009

Obtaining Large Columnar CdTe Grains and Long Lifetime on Nanocrystalline CdSe, MgZnO, or CdS Layers
journal, January 2018

Co-sublimation of CdSexTe1−x layers for CdTe solar cells
journal, January 2017

Defect interactions and the role of complexes in the CdTe solar cell absorber
journal, January 2017

Explosive recrystallization during pulsed laser irradiation
journal, October 1984

Roles of bandgrading, lifetime, band alignment, and carrier concentration in high-efficiency CdSeTe solar cells
journal, August 2020

Bifacial configurations for CdTe solar cells
journal, September 2007

Long carrier lifetimes in large-grain polycrystalline CdTe without CdCl2
journal, June 2016

Grain Growth in CdTe Films During CdCl ₂ Treatment: TeCl ₄ Theory
conference, June 2019

Phase Diagram of the CdTe-CdSe Pseudobinary System
journal, January 1970

Formation of giant-grain copper interconnects by a low-energy ion bombardment process for high-speed ULSIs
journal, August 1995

Observations on the “explosive” crystallization of non-crystalline Ge
journal, February 1975

Exceeding 20% efficiency with in situ group V doping in polycrystalline CdTe solar cells
journal, August 2019

Crystallization‐front velocity during scanned laser crystallization of amorphous Ge films
journal, August 1980

Carrier density and lifetime for different dopants in single-crystal and polycrystalline CdTe
journal, November 2016

Epitaxy and heterogeneous nucleation theory
journal, July 1969

Review of data for the surface tension of pure metals
journal, January 1993

Shock crystallization of films
journal, April 1983

New Noncrystalline Germanium which Crystallizes ``Explosively'' at Room Temperature
journal, March 1972

Beneficial effect of post-deposition treatment in high-efficiency Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells through reduced potential fluctuations
journal, August 2016

Band alignment of front contact layers for high-efficiency CdTe solar cells
journal, December 2016

Fundamental Aspects of High Speed Crystal Growth from the Melt
journal, January 1984