Microsecond Carrier Lifetimes in Polycrystalline CdSeTe Heterostructures and in CdSeTe Thin Film Solar Cells

Conference · Mon Jun 15 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Conference Record of the IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC45281.2020.9300915· OSTI ID:1670801

Kuciauskas, Darius; Albin, David; Moseley, John; Li, Siming; Scajev, Patrik; Reich, Carey; Munshi, Amit; Danielson, Adam; Sampath, Walajabad; Lee, Chungho

We report significant advances in understanding and reducing nonradiative Shockley-Read-Hall recombination in polycrystalline CdSe_xTe_1-x, leading to microsecond charge carrier lifetimes. In undoped Al₂O₃-passivated heterostructures we find external radiative efficiency 0.2%, quasi-Fermi level splitting 950 mV, mobility 100 cm²/(Vs), and diffusion length 14 μm. In solar cells measured lifetimes can exceed 1 μs. We interpret this data to indicate MgZnO/CdSeTe interface recombination velocity <100 cm/s. Based on our results, it appears CdTe PV technology has potentially overcome longstanding “recombination lifetime” limitation and in the near future will transition to improving other aspects of device design.

• Research Organization: Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• DOE Contract Number: EE0008557
• OSTI ID: 1670801
• Journal Information: Conference Record of the IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, Vol. 2020; Conference: 47th IEEE Photovoltaics Specialists Conference; ISSN 0160-8371
• Publisher: IEEE
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY