Defect-mediated metastability and carrier lifetimes in polycrystalline (Ag,Cu)(In,Ga)Se2 absorber materials
Abstract
Using a combination of optical and electrical measurements, we develop a model for metastable defects in Ag-alloyed Cu(In,Ga)Se2, one of the leading thin film photovoltaic materials. By controlling the pre-selenization conditions of the back contact prior to the growth of polycrystalline (Ag,Cu)(In,Ga)Se2 absorbers and subsequently exposing them to various stresses (light soaking and dark-heat), we explore in this paper the nature and role of metastable defects on the electro-optical and photovoltaic performance of high-efficiency solar cell materials and devices. Positron annihilation spectroscopy indicates that dark-heat exposure results in an increase in the concentration of the selenium–copper divacancy complex (VSe–VCu), attributed to depassivation of donor defects. Deep-level optical spectroscopy finds a corresponding increase of a defect at Ev+0.98 eV, and deep-level transient spectroscopy suggests that this increase is accompanied by a decrease in the concentration of mid-bandgap recombination centers. Time-resolved photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy data are consistent with the presence of the VSe–VCu divacancy complex, which may act as a shallow trap for the minority carriers. Light-soaking experiments are consistent with the VSe–VCu optical cycle proposed by Lany and Zunger, resulting in the conversion of shallow traps into recombination states that limit the effective minority carrier recombination time (and the associated carriermore »
- Authors:
-
[1];
[4];
[5];
[3];
[1]
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- MiaSolé Hi-Tech Corp., Santa Clara, CA (United States)
- The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States)
- Aalto Univ., Otaniemi (Finland)
- Aalto Univ., Otaniemi (Finland); Univ. of Helsinki (Finland)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1660034
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1631481; OSTI ID: 1808793
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/JA-5900-75301
Journal ID: ISSN 0021-8979; MainId:6622;UUID:95c219d5-c9fa-e911-9c29-ac162d87dfe5;MainAdminID:13799; TRN: US2203763
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308; DD0007141; EE0008755
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Applied Physics
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 127; Journal Issue: 21; Journal ID: ISSN 0021-8979
- Publisher:
- American Institute of Physics (AIP)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; 14 SOLAR ENERGY; Ag-alloyed Cu(In,Ga)Se2; metastable defects; model; thin film photovoltaic materials
Citation Formats
Ferguson, Andrew J., Farshchi, Rouin, Paul, Pran K., Dippo, Pat, Bailey, Jeff, Poplavskyy, Dmitry, Khanam, Afrina, Tuomisto, Filip, Arehart, Aaron R., and Kuciauskas, Darius. Defect-mediated metastability and carrier lifetimes in polycrystalline (Ag,Cu)(In,Ga)Se2 absorber materials. United States: N. p., 2020.
Web. doi:10.1063/1.5134502.
Ferguson, Andrew J., Farshchi, Rouin, Paul, Pran K., Dippo, Pat, Bailey, Jeff, Poplavskyy, Dmitry, Khanam, Afrina, Tuomisto, Filip, Arehart, Aaron R., & Kuciauskas, Darius. Defect-mediated metastability and carrier lifetimes in polycrystalline (Ag,Cu)(In,Ga)Se2 absorber materials. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5134502
Ferguson, Andrew J., Farshchi, Rouin, Paul, Pran K., Dippo, Pat, Bailey, Jeff, Poplavskyy, Dmitry, Khanam, Afrina, Tuomisto, Filip, Arehart, Aaron R., and Kuciauskas, Darius. Tue .
"Defect-mediated metastability and carrier lifetimes in polycrystalline (Ag,Cu)(In,Ga)Se2 absorber materials". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5134502. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1660034.
@article{osti_1660034,
title = {Defect-mediated metastability and carrier lifetimes in polycrystalline (Ag,Cu)(In,Ga)Se2 absorber materials},
author = {Ferguson, Andrew J. and Farshchi, Rouin and Paul, Pran K. and Dippo, Pat and Bailey, Jeff and Poplavskyy, Dmitry and Khanam, Afrina and Tuomisto, Filip and Arehart, Aaron R. and Kuciauskas, Darius},
abstractNote = {Using a combination of optical and electrical measurements, we develop a model for metastable defects in Ag-alloyed Cu(In,Ga)Se2, one of the leading thin film photovoltaic materials. By controlling the pre-selenization conditions of the back contact prior to the growth of polycrystalline (Ag,Cu)(In,Ga)Se2 absorbers and subsequently exposing them to various stresses (light soaking and dark-heat), we explore in this paper the nature and role of metastable defects on the electro-optical and photovoltaic performance of high-efficiency solar cell materials and devices. Positron annihilation spectroscopy indicates that dark-heat exposure results in an increase in the concentration of the selenium–copper divacancy complex (VSe–VCu), attributed to depassivation of donor defects. Deep-level optical spectroscopy finds a corresponding increase of a defect at Ev+0.98 eV, and deep-level transient spectroscopy suggests that this increase is accompanied by a decrease in the concentration of mid-bandgap recombination centers. Time-resolved photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy data are consistent with the presence of the VSe–VCu divacancy complex, which may act as a shallow trap for the minority carriers. Light-soaking experiments are consistent with the VSe–VCu optical cycle proposed by Lany and Zunger, resulting in the conversion of shallow traps into recombination states that limit the effective minority carrier recombination time (and the associated carrier diffusion length) and an increase in the doping density that limits carrier extraction in photovoltaic devices.},
doi = {10.1063/1.5134502},
journal = {Journal of Applied Physics},
number = 21,
volume = 127,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Jun 02 00:00:00 EDT 2020},
month = {Tue Jun 02 00:00:00 EDT 2020}
}
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