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Title: Polycrystalline thin film materials and devices. Annual subcontract report, 16 January 1991--15 January 1992

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/10187365· OSTI ID:10187365
; ; ; ; ;  [1]
  1. Delaware Univ., Newark, DE (United States). Inst. of Energy Conversion

Results of Phase II of a research program on polycrystalline thin film heterojunction solar cells are presented. Relations between processing, materials properties and device performance were studied. The analysis of these solar cells explains how minority carrier recombination at the interface and at grain boundaries can be reduced by doping of windows and absorber layers, such as in high efficiency CdTe and CuInSe{sub 2} based solar cells. The additional geometric dimension introduced by the polycrystallinity must be taken into consideration. The solar cells are limited by the diode current, caused by recombination in the space charge region. J-V characteristics of CuInSe{sub 2}/(CdZn)S cells were analyzed. Current-voltage and spectral response measurements were also made on high efficiency CdTe/CdS thin film solar cells prepared by vacuum evaporation. Cu-In bilayers were reacted with Se and H{sub 2}Se gas to form CuInSe{sub 2} films; the reaction pathways and the precursor were studied. Several approaches to fabrication of these thin film solar cells in a superstrate configuration were explored. A self-consistent picture of the effects of processing on the evolution of CdTe cells was developed.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Delaware Univ., Newark, DE (United States). Inst. of Energy Conversion
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-83CH10093
OSTI ID:
10187365
Report Number(s):
NREL/TP-451-5094; ON: DE93000022
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: Oct 1992
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English