Long carrier lifetimes in large-grain polycrystalline CdTe without CdCl2

Jensen, Soren A.; Burst, James M.; Duenow, Joel N.; Guthrey, Harvey L.; Moseley, John; Moutinho, Helio R.; Johnston, Steve W.; Kanevce, Ana; Al-Jassim, Mowafak M.; Metzger, Wyatt K.

doi:10.1063/1.4954904

Title: Long carrier lifetimes in large-grain polycrystalline CdTe without CdCl₂

Journal Article · Mon Jun 27 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4954904· OSTI ID:1266707

Jensen, Soren A. ^[1]; Burst, James M. ^[1]; Duenow, Joel N. ^[1]; Guthrey, Harvey L. ^[1]; Moseley, John ^[1]; Moutinho, Helio R. ^[1];

^[1]; Kanevce, Ana ^[1]; Al-Jassim, Mowafak M. ^[1]; Metzger, Wyatt K. ^[1]

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

For decades, polycrystalline CdTe thin films for solar applications have been restricted to grain sizes of microns or less whereas other semiconductors such as silicon and perovskites have produced devices with grains ranging from less than a micron to more than 1 mm. Because the lifetimes in as-deposited polycrystalline CdTe films are typically limited to less than a few hundred picoseconds, a CdCl₂ treatment is generally used to improve the lifetime; but this treatment may limit the achievable hole density by compensation. Here, we establish methods to produce CdTe films with grain sizes ranging from hundreds of nanometers to several hundred microns by close-spaced sublimation at industrial manufacturing growth rates. Two-photon excitation photoluminescence spectroscopy shows a positive correlation of lifetime with grain size. Large-grain, as-deposited CdTe exhibits lifetimes exceeding 10 ns without Cl, S, O, or Cu. In conclusion, this uncompensated material allows dopants such as P to achieve a hole density of 10¹⁶ cm^-3, which is an order of magnitude higher than standard CdCl₂-treated devices, without compromising the lifetime.

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Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, 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

OSTI ID:: 1266707

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1259369

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5900-66346; APPLAB

Journal Information:: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 108, Issue 26; ISSN 0003-6951

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 27 works

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Obtaining Large Columnar CdTe Grains and Long Lifetime on Nanocrystalline CdSe, MgZnO, or CdS Layers Amarasinghe, Mahisha; Colegrove, Eric; Moseley, John Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 8, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201702666	journal	January 2018
Carrier density and lifetime for different dopants in single-crystal and polycrystalline CdTe Burst, James M.; Farrell, Stuart B.; Albin, David S. APL Materials, Vol. 4, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4966209	journal	November 2016
Point defect engineering in thin-film solar cells Park, Ji Sang; Kim, Sunghyun; Xie, Zijuan Nature Reviews Materials, Vol. 3, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-018-0026-7	journal	June 2018
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
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
Grain boundary passivation by CdCl2 treatment in CdTe solar cells revealed by Kelvin probe force microscopy Li, Chuang; Chen, Gang; Wang, Wenwu Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics, Vol. 29, Issue 24 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-018-0212-9	journal	October 2018
Luminescence methodology to determine grain-boundary, grain-interior, and surface recombination in thin-film solar cells Moseley, John; Rale, Pierre; Collin, Stéphane Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 124, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5042532	journal	September 2018

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