Optimizing CdTe Solar Cell Performance: Impact of Variations in Minority-Carrier Lifetime and Carrier Density Profile

<p>In thisarticle, a study of the effect of different minority carrier lifetime (τ) of wafers on solar cell performance in a conventional industrial production line has been carried out. The results clearly showed that the ultimate efficiency of the solar cells made by wafers of 1μs <τ<1.2μs and 1.2μs <τ<1.5μs is much higher than that of solar cells made by wafers of τ<1μs. The gap of both is about 0.38%–0.53%. Differently, there is no significant difference between wafers of 1μs<τ<1.2μs and 1.2μs <τ<1.5μs. The results obtained are useful when the solar cell companies establish original wafers test standard in industry.</p>

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Resistivity dependence of minority carrier lifetime and cell performance in p-type dendritic web silicon ribbon

Solid-State Electronics ◽

10.1016/s0038-1101(01)00253-2 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 45 (12) ◽

pp. 1973-1978 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Mohamed Hilali ◽

Abasifreke Ebong ◽

Ajeet Rohatgi ◽

Daniel L Meier

Keyword(s):

Carrier Lifetime ◽

Minority Carrier ◽

Minority Carrier Lifetime ◽

Cell Performance ◽

Silicon Ribbon ◽

P Type

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Solar cell minority carrier lifetime using open-circuit voltage decay

Solar Cells ◽

10.1016/0379-6787(84)90023-1 ◽

1984 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 147-161 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Martin A. Green

Keyword(s):

Solar Cell ◽

Open Circuit Voltage ◽

Carrier Lifetime ◽

Minority Carrier ◽

Minority Carrier Lifetime ◽

Open Circuit ◽

Voltage Decay

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Improvement of Minority Carrier Lifetime and Si Solar Cell Characteristics by Nitric Acid Oxidation Method

ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology ◽

10.1149/2.024406jss ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 3 (7) ◽

pp. Q137-Q141 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Fumio Shibata ◽

Daisuke Ishibashi ◽

Shoji Ogawara ◽

Taketoshi Matsumoto ◽

Chang-Ho Kim ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Solar Cell ◽

Nitric Acid ◽

Carrier Lifetime ◽

Minority Carrier ◽

Minority Carrier Lifetime ◽

Acid Oxidation ◽

Oxidation Method ◽

Si Solar Cell ◽

Nitric Acid Oxidation

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Effects of Ga Compositional Grading on CIGS Electronic Properties Relevant to Solar Cell Performance

MRS Proceedings ◽

10.1557/proc-1165-m01-09 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 1165 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

JinWoo Lee ◽

Jeroen K.J. van Duren ◽

Alex Pudov ◽

Miguel Contreras ◽

David J. Cohen

Keyword(s):

Solar Cell ◽

Minority Carrier ◽

Defect Density ◽

Cell Performance ◽

Solar Cell Performance ◽

Free Hole ◽

Deep Acceptor ◽

Free Carrier Density ◽

Carrier Collection ◽

Compositional Grading

AbstractTransient photocurrent (TPI) and photocapacitance (TPC) spectroscopy have been applied to a set of compositional graded CuIn1-xGaxSe2 (CIGS) solar cell devices deposited by the vacuum co-evaporation method at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. These measurements provide a spectral map of the optically induced release of carriers for photon energies from below 1 eV to 2 eV. By comparing the two types of spectra one can distinguish majority from minority carrier processes and they clearly reveal a higher degree of minority carrier collection for devices in which the Ga fraction increased monotonically with distance from the junction. This agrees with notions of how compositional grading improves overall cell performance. Minority carrier collection was even more strongly enhanced in sample devices incorporating v-shaped Ga-grading. Spatial profiles of the free hole carrier densities and deep acceptor concentrations were examined using drive-level capacitance profiling (DLCP). In the compositionally graded sample devices we found that the free carrier density decreased and that defect density increased with increasing Ga fraction toward back contact.

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