Separating grain-boundary and bulk recombination with time-resolved photoluminescence microscopy

Kuciauskas, Darius; Lu, Dingyuan; Grover, Sachit; Xiong, Gang; Gloeckler, Markus

doi:10.1063/1.5010931

Title: Separating grain-boundary and bulk recombination with time-resolved photoluminescence microscopy

Journal Article · Mon Dec 04 00:00:00 EST 2017 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5010931· OSTI ID:1413180

^[1]; Lu, Dingyuan ^[2]; Grover, Sachit ^[2]; Xiong, Gang ^[2]; Gloeckler, Markus ^[2]

National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
First Solar, Santa Clara, CA (United States)

Two-photon excitation (2PE) microscopy allows contactless and non-destructive cross-sectional analysis of grain-boundary (GB) and grain-interior (GI) properties in polycrystalline solar cells, with measurements of doping uniformity, space-charge field distribution, and carrier dynamics in different regions of the device. Using 2PE time-resolved microscopy, we analyzed charge-carrier lifetimes near the GBs and in the GI of polycrystalline thin-film CdTe solar cells doped with As. When the grain radius is larger than the minority-carrier diffusion length, GI lifetimes are interpreted as the bulk lifetimes ..tau..B, and GB recombination velocity SGB is extracted by comparing recombination rates in the GI and near GBs. In As-doped CdTe solar cells, we find ..tau..B = 1.0-2.4 ns and S_GB = (1-4) x 10⁵ cm/s. The results imply the potential to improve solar cell voltage via GB passivation and reduced recombination center concentration in the GI.

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Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Lab. (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; AC36-08-GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1413180

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1411285

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5900-70418; TRN: US1800417

Journal Information:: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 111, Issue 23; ISSN 0003-6951

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

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 13 works

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Recombination and bandgap engineering in CdSeTe/CdTe solar cells Zheng, X.; Kuciauskas, D.; Moseley, J. APL Materials, Vol. 7, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5098459	journal	July 2019

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