Effect of Diode Field on Time-Resolved Photoluminescence of CdTe-Based Solar Cells

Jundt, Pascal M.; Kuciauskas, Darius; Sites, James R.

doi:10.1109/jphotov.2021.3132893

Title: Effect of Diode Field on Time-Resolved Photoluminescence of CdTe-Based Solar Cells

Journal Article · 21 December 2021 · IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/jphotov.2021.3132893 · OSTI ID:1985253

^[1];

^[2];

^[3]

Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO (United States); Colorado State University
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO (United States)

Time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) measurements with externally applied voltage bias were performed on a variety of thin-film CdTe-based solar cells. These measurements revealed a substantial variation in luminescence decays with the application of external voltage bias in many of the samples. Experimental results were replicated with a MATLAB-based modeling tool. Decay variations are attributed to the changing strength of internal p-n junction electric fields as bias is modulated; this exercise, therefore, illustrates whether or not field effects influence a particular TRPL measurement and how. It is found via modeling that the field influence on TRPL decays is dependent on the cell's bulk minority carrier lifetime, mobility, and carrier concentration, as well as the laser excitation power during a measurement. While nearly insignificant in poorer quality legacy cells, the field effects are substantial in state-of-the-art CdTe cells with high lifetime, mobility, and doping, complicating determination of bulk lifetime. It is found that forward bias is effective in eliminating junction fields. Here, it is also shown that fields can be effectively suppressed by increasing excitation power, but doing so is imprecise and can also introduce additional errors unrelated to fields. It is therefore concluded that lifetime is most accurately measured in completed cells under forward bias at low excitation intensity.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Cite

Export

Save

Research Organization:: Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO (United States)

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

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308; EE0008974

OSTI ID:: 1985253

Journal Information:: IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Journal Name: IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 12; ISSN 2156-3381

Publisher:: IEEECopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (61)

Physics of Semiconductor Devices Sze, S. M.; Ng, Kwok K. https://doi.org/10.1002/0470068329	book	January 2007
Thermoelectric Power and Hall Effect Measurements in Polycrystalline CdTe Thin Films Paez, B. A. physica status solidi (b), Vol. 220, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1002/1521-3951(200007)220:1<221::AID-PSSB221>3.0.CO;2-K	journal	July 2000
First-Principles Study of Doping Limits of CdTe Wei, Su-Huai; Zhang, S. B. physica status solidi (b), Vol. 229, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1002/1521-3951(200201)229:1<305::AID-PSSB305>3.0.CO;2-3	journal	January 2002
Identifying the Real Minority Carrier Lifetime in Nonideal Semiconductors: A Case Study of Kesterite Materials Hages, Charles J.; Redinger, Alex; Levcenko, Sergiu Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 7, Issue 18 https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201700167	journal	May 2017
Photoluminescence‐Based Characterization of Halide Perovskites for Photovoltaics Kirchartz, Thomas; Márquez, José A.; Stolterfoht, Martin Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 10, Issue 26 https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201904134	journal	May 2020
The role of drift, diffusion, and recombination in time-resolved photoluminescence of CdTe solar cells determined through numerical simulation: The role of drift, diffusion, and recombination in time-resolved photoluminescence Kanevce, A.; Levi, D. H.; Kuciauskas, D. Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 22, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.2369	journal	February 2013
Doping efficiency and limits in (Mg,Zn)O:Al,Ga thin films with two-dimensional lateral composition spread: Dopant efficiency of Al and Ga in MgZnO thin films Mavlonov, Abdurashid; Richter, Steffen; von Wenckstern, Holger physica status solidi (a), Vol. 212, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1002/pssa.201431932	journal	August 2015
Radiative Efficiency and Charge‐Carrier Lifetimes and Diffusion Length in Polycrystalline CdSeTe Heterostructures Kuciauskas, Darius; Moseley, John; Ščajev, Patrik physica status solidi (RRL) – Rapid Research Letters, Vol. 14, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1002/pssr.201900606	journal	December 2019
Identification of Recombination Losses in CdSe/CdTe Solar Cells from Spectroscopic and Microscopic Time‐Resolved Photoluminescence Kuciauskas, Darius; Moseley, John; Lee, Chungho Solar RRL, Vol. 5, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1002/solr.202000775	journal	March 2021
Molecular beam epitaxial growth and characterization of Cd-based II–VI wide-bandgap compounds on Si substrates Brill, G.; Chen, Y.; Amirtharaj, P. M. Journal of Electronic Materials, Vol. 34, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-005-0080-y	journal	May 2005
Measurement of minority-carrier lifetime by time-resolved photoluminescence Ahrenkiel, R. K. Solid-State Electronics, Vol. 35, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1016/0038-1101(92)90228-5	journal	March 1992
Study of electrical transport properties in polycrystalline CdTe thin films Jácome, C. E.; Flórez, J. M.; Gordillo, G. Thin Solid Films, Vol. 396, Issue 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0040-6090(01)01225-1	journal	September 2001
Modelling polycrystalline semiconductor solar cells Burgelman, M.; Nollet, P.; Degrave, S. Thin Solid Films, Vol. 361-362 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0040-6090(99)00825-1	journal	February 2000
Chapter 2 Minority-Carrier Lifetime in III–V Semiconductors Ahrenkiel, Richard K. Semiconductors and Semimetals, Vol. 39, p. 39-150 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0080-8784(08)62594-6	book	January 1993
An optical technique for measuring surface recombination velocity Ahrenkiel, R. K.; Johnston, S. W. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 93, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2008.12.028	journal	May 2009
Doping levels, trap density of states and the performance of co-doped CdTe(As,Cl) photovoltaic devices Proskuryakov, Y. Y.; Durose, K.; Major, J. D. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 93, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2009.04.010	journal	September 2009
Band alignment of front contact layers for high-efficiency CdTe solar cells Kephart, J. M.; McCamy, J. W.; Ma, Z. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 157 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2016.05.050	journal	December 2016
Polycrystalline CdTe photovoltaics with efficiency over 18% through improved absorber passivation and current collection Munshi, Amit H.; Kephart, Jason M.; Abbas, Ali Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 176 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2017.11.031	journal	March 2018
Study of thin film poly-crystalline CdTe solar cells presenting high acceptor concentrations achieved by in-situ arsenic doping Kartopu, G.; Oklobia, O.; Turkay, D. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 194 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2019.02.025	journal	June 2019
Stable magnesium zinc oxide by reactive Co-Sputtering for CdTe-based solar cells Samoilenko, Yegor; Yeung, Gavin; Munshi, Amit H. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 210 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2020.110521	journal	June 2020
Strategies to increase CdTe solar-cell voltage Sites, James; Pan, Jun Thin Solid Films, Vol. 515, Issue 15, p. 6099-6102 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2006.12.147	journal	May 2007
Cu-related recombination in CdS/CdTe solar cells Demtsu, S. H.; Albin, D. S.; Sites, J. R. Thin Solid Films, Vol. 516, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2007.08.035	journal	February 2008
Recombination kinetics and stability in polycrystalline Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ solar cells Metzger, W. K.; Repins, I. L.; Romero, M. Thin Solid Films, Vol. 517, Issue 7, p. 2360-2364 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2008.11.050	journal	February 2009
Electrical characterization of Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 -solar cells by voltage dependent time-resolved photoluminescence Maiberg, Matthias; Spindler, Conrad; Jarzembowski, Enrico Thin Solid Films, Vol. 582 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2014.09.022	journal	May 2015
Analysis of magnesium zinc oxide layers for high efficiency CdTe devices Artegiani, Elisa; Leoncini, Mauro; Barbato, Marco Thin Solid Films, Vol. 672 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2019.01.004	journal	February 2019
CdTe solar cells with open-circuit voltage breaking the 1 V barrier Burst, J. M.; Duenow, J. N.; Albin, D. S. Nature Energy, Vol. 1, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1038/nenergy.2016.15	journal	February 2016
Exceeding 20% efficiency with in situ group V doping in polycrystalline CdTe solar cells Metzger, W. K.; Grover, S.; Lu, D. Nature Energy, Vol. 4, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-019-0446-7	journal	August 2019
Overcoming Carrier Concentration Limits in Polycrystalline CdTe Thin Films with In Situ Doping McCandless, Brian E.; Buchanan, Wayne A.; Thompson, Christopher P. Scientific Reports, Vol. 8, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-32746-y	journal	September 2018
Bulk and surface recombination properties in thin film semiconductors with different surface treatments from time-resolved photoluminescence measurements Weiss, Thomas P.; Bissig, Benjamin; Feurer, Thomas Scientific Reports, Vol. 9, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-41716-x	journal	March 2019
Bias-dependent photoluminescence in CdTe photovoltaics Shvydka, Diana; Karpov, V. G.; Compaan, A. D. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 80, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1475359	journal	April 2002
Time-resolved photoluminescence studies of CdTe solar cells Metzger, W. K.; Albin, D.; Levi, D. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 94, Issue 5, p. 3549-3555 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1597974	journal	September 2003
Growth, steady-state, and time-resolved photoluminescence study of CdTe/MgCdTe double heterostructures on InSb substrates using molecular beam epitaxy DiNezza, Michael J.; Zhao, Xin-Hao; Liu, Shi Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 103, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4828984	journal	November 2013
Shockley-Read-Hall lifetimes in CdTe Buurma, C.; Krishnamurthy, S.; Sivananthan, S. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 116, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4886386	journal	July 2014
Electron and hole drift mobility measurements on thin film CdTe solar cells Long, Qi; Dinca, Steluta A.; Schiff, E. A. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4891846	journal	July 2014
Theoretical study of time-resolved luminescence in semiconductors. II. Pulsed excitation Maiberg, Matthias; Scheer, Roland Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 116, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4896484	journal	September 2014
Radiative and interfacial recombination in CdTe heterostructures Swartz, C. H.; Edirisooriya, M.; LeBlanc, E. G. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 22 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4902926	journal	December 2014
Charge-carrier dynamics in polycrystalline thin-film CuIn1−xGaxSe2 photovoltaic devices after pulsed laser excitation: Interface and space-charge region analysis Kuciauskas, Darius; Li, Jian V.; Kanevce, Ana Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 117, Issue 18 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4921011	journal	May 2015
Enhanced p-type dopability of P and As in CdTe using non-equilibrium thermal processing Yang, Ji-Hui; Yin, Wan-Jian; Park, Ji-Sang Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 118, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4926748	journal	July 2015
The roles of carrier concentration and interface, bulk, and grain-boundary recombination for 25% efficient CdTe solar cells Kanevce, A.; Reese, M. O.; Barnes, T. M. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 121, Issue 21 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4984320	journal	June 2017
High p-type doping, mobility, and photocarrier lifetime in arsenic-doped CdTe single crystals Nagaoka, Akira; Kuciauskas, Darius; McCoy, Jedidiah Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 112, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5029450	journal	May 2018
Effect of selenium and chlorine co-passivation in polycrystalline CdSeTe devices Guo, Jinglong; Mannodi-Kanakkithodi, Arun; Sen, Fatih G. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 115, Issue 15 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5123169	journal	October 2019
Impact of dopant-induced optoelectronic tails on open-circuit voltage in arsenic-doped Cd(Se)Te solar cells Moseley, John; Grover, Sachit; Lu, Dingyuan Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 128, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0018955	journal	September 2020
Diverse simulations of time-resolved photoluminescence in thin-film solar cells: A SnO2/CdSeyTe1−y case study Moseley, John; Krasikov, Dmitry; Lee, Chungho Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 130, Issue 16 https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0063028	journal	October 2021
Statistics of the Recombinations of Holes and Electrons Shockley, W.; Read, W. T. Physical Review, Vol. 87, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.87.835	journal	September 1952
Dependence of the Minority-Carrier Lifetime on the Stoichiometry of CdTe Using Time-Resolved Photoluminescence and First-Principles Calculations Ma, Jie; Kuciauskas, Darius; Albin, David Physical Review Letters, Vol. 111, Issue 6, Article No. 067402 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.067402	journal	August 2013
CdTe Solar Cells at the Threshold to 20% Efficiency Gloeckler, M.; Sankin, I.; Zhao, Z. IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 3, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2013.2278661	journal	October 2013
Surface Passivation of CdTe Single Crystals Reese, Matthew O.; Burst, James M.; Perkins, Craig L. IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 5, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2014.2362298	journal	January 2015
Polycrystalline CdSeTe/CdTe Absorber Cells With 28 mA/cm ² Short-Circuit Current Munshi, Amit H.; Kephart, Jason; Abbas, Ali IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 8, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2017.2775139	journal	January 2018
Tailoring MgZnO/CdSeTe Interfaces for Photovoltaics Ablekim, Tursun; Perkins, Craig; Zheng, Xin IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 9, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2018.2877982	journal	May 2019
Impact of interface recombination on time resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) decays in CdTe solar cells (numerical simulation analysis) Kanevce, Ana; Kuciauskas, Darius; Gessert, Timothy A. 2012 IEEE 38th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2012 38th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2012.6317736	conference	June 2012
Optical-fiber-based, time-resolved photoluminescence spectrometer for thin-film absorber characterization and analysis of TRPL data for CdS/CdTe interface Kuciauskas, Darius; Duenow, Joel N.; Kanevce, Ana 2012 IEEE 38th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2012 38th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2012.6317927	conference	June 2012
CdTe vs. GaAs solar cells — A modeling case study with preliminary experimental results Kirk, Alexander P.; DiNezza, Michael J.; Liu, Shi 2013 IEEE 39th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC) https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2013.6744987	conference	June 2013
Exploring the potential for high-quality epitaxial CdTe solar cells Song, Tao; Kanevce, Ana; Sites, James R. 2014 IEEE 40th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2014 IEEE 40th Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC) https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2014.6925414	conference	June 2014
Progress and challenges with CdTe cell efficiency Sites, James; Munshi, Amit; Kephart, Jason 2016 IEEE 43rd Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC) https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2016.7750351	conference	June 2016
Field Effect in CdSeTe/CdTe Solar Cells with Biased Spectroscopy Jundt, Pascal; Kuciauskas, Darius; Sites, James 2019 IEEE 46th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC) https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC40753.2019.8980487	conference	June 2019
Doping CdSe_xTe_1-x/CdTe Graded Absorber Films with Arsenic for Thin-Film Photovoltaics Munshi, Amit H.; Guo, Jinglong; Klie, Robert 2019 IEEE 46th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC) https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC40753.2019.8981239	conference	June 2019
Microsecond Carrier Lifetimes in Polycrystalline CdSeTe Heterostructures and in CdSeTe Thin Film Solar Cells Kuciauskas, Darius; Albin, David; Moseley, John 2020 47th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC) https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC45281.2020.9300915	conference	June 2020
Control of electric field at the surface of P-N junctions Davies, R. L.; Gentry, F. E. IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, Vol. 11, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1109/T-ED.1964.15335	journal	July 1964
Characterizing Recombination in CdTe Solar Cells with Time-Resolved Photoluminescence Metzger, W. K.; Romero, M. J.; Dippo, P. 2006 IEEE 4th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conference https://doi.org/10.1109/WCPEC.2006.279467	conference	May 2006
Single vacuum chamber with multiple close space sublimation sources to fabricate CdTe solar cells Swanson, Drew E.; Kephart, Jason M.; Kobyakov, Pavel S. Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A: Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films, Vol. 34, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1116/1.4941071	journal	February 2016
Characterization of thin CdTe solar cells with a CdSeTe front layer Bothwell, Alexandra M.; Drayton, Jennifer A.; Jundt, Pascal M. MRS Advances, Vol. 4, Issue 37 https://doi.org/10.1557/adv.2019.332	journal	July 2019

Similar Records

Simulating the Effect of p-n Junction Fields on TRPL Transients of Thin-Film CdTe Solar Cells

Conference · 2021 · OSTI ID:1769867

Jundt, Pascal; Kuciauskas, Darius; Sites, James

Identification of Recombination Losses in CdSe/CdTe Solar Cells from Spectroscopic and Microscopic Time-Resolved Photoluminescence

Journal Article · 2021 · Solar RRL · OSTI ID:1772457

Kuciauskas, Darius; Moseley, John; Lee, Chungho

Characterizing Recombination in CdTe Solar Cells with Time-Resolved Photoluminescence

Conference · 2005 · OSTI ID:943982

Metzger, W K; Romero, M J; Dippo, P; +1 more

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
Carrier lifetime
CdTe
photoluminescence (PL)

Title: Effect of Diode Field on Time-Resolved Photoluminescence of CdTe-Based Solar Cells

Citation Formats

References (61)

Similar Records

Related Subjects