The impact of selenisation on damp heat degradation of the CIGS back contact molybdenum

Interdigitated back contact (IBC) n-type silicon solar cells with a different front surface layer doping concentration were fabricated and studied and the influence of the front surface doping level was analyzed via simulation (PC1D). The IBC cells were processed by industrially feasible technologies including laser ablation and screen printing; photolithography was not used. A maximum efficiency of up to 20.88% was achieved at an optimal front surface field (FSF) peak doping concentration of 4.8 × 1019 cm−3 with a sheet resistance of approximately 95 Ω/square, corresponding to Jsc = 40.05 mA/cm2, Voc = 671 mV and a fill factor of 77.70%. The effects of the front surface doping level were studied in detail by analyzing parameters related to carrier transmission mechanisms such as minority carrier concentration, minority carrier lifetime and the saturation current density of the FSF (J0e). The influence of the front surface recombination velocity (FSRV) on the performance of IBC solar cells with different FSF layer doping concentrations was also investigated and was verified by examining the variation in the minority carrier density as a function of the distance from the front surface. In particular, the impact of the FSF doping concentration on the Jsc of the IBC cells was clarified by considering carrier transmission mechanisms and the charge-collection probability. The trends revealed in the simulations agreed with the corresponding experimental data obtained from the fabricated IBC solar cells. This study not only verifies that the presented simulation is a reasonable and reliable guide for choosing the optimal front surface doping concentration in industrial IBC solar cells but also provides a deeper physical understanding of the impact that front surface layer doping has on the IBC solar cell performance considering carrier transmission mechanisms and the charge-collection probability.

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Numerical simulation of the impact of design parameters on the performance of back-contact back-junction solar cell

Journal of Computational Electronics ◽

10.1007/s10825-015-0739-4 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 260-268 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

P. Procel ◽

M. Zanuccoli ◽

V. Maccaronio ◽

F. Crupi ◽

G. Cocorullo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Numerical Simulation ◽

Solar Cell ◽

Design Parameters ◽

Back Contact ◽

Junction Solar Cell ◽

The Impact

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Analysis of the impact of geometrical and technological parameters on recombination losses in interdigitated back-contact solar cells

Solar Energy ◽

10.1016/j.solener.2015.03.042 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 116 ◽

pp. 37-44 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Mauro Zanuccoli ◽

Paolo Magnone ◽

Enrico Sangiorgi ◽

Claudio Fiegna

Keyword(s):

Solar Cells ◽

Back Contact ◽

Technological Parameters ◽

The Impact

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Assessing the impact of back-contact recombination on CIGS solar cells with improved crystal quality

2019 IEEE 46th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC) ◽

10.1109/pvsc40753.2019.8981144 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Yukiko Kamikawa ◽

Marco Nardone ◽

Jiro Nishinaga ◽

Hajime Shibata ◽

Shogo Ishizuka

Keyword(s):

Solar Cells ◽

Crystal Quality ◽

Back Contact ◽

Cigs Solar Cells ◽

The Impact

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Numerical study of CdTe solar cells with p-MoTe2 TMDC as an interfacial layer using SCAPS

Modern Physics Letters B ◽

10.1142/s021798491850269x ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 32 (23) ◽

pp. 1850269 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Mohamed Moustafa ◽

Tariq Alzoubi

Keyword(s):

Solar Cells ◽

Solar Cell ◽

Band Gap ◽

Carrier Concentration ◽

Interfacial Layer ◽

Cell Performance ◽

Maximum Efficiency ◽

Back Contact ◽

Solar Cell Performance ◽

The Impact

The impact of molybdenum ditelluride (p-type MoTe2) transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) material formation as an interfacial layer between CdTe absorber layer and Mo back contact is investigated. The simulation is conducted using the solar cell capacitance simulator (SCAPS) software. Band gap energy, carrier concentration, and layer thickness of the p-MoTe2 have been varied in this study to investigate the possible influences of p-MoTe2 on the electrical properties and the photovoltaic parameters of CdTe thin film solar cells. It has been observed that a thickness of the p-MoTe2 interfacial layer less than 60 nm leads to a decrease in the cell performance. In regard to the effect of the band gap, a maximum efficiency of 16.4% at the optimum energy gap value of 0.95 eV has been obtained at a doping of [Formula: see text]. Additionally, increasing the acceptor carrier concentration [Formula: see text] of MoTe2 enhances the solar cell performance. The solar cell efficiency reaches 15.5% with [Formula: see text] of [Formula: see text] with layer thicknesses above 80 nm. This might be attributed to the possibility of forming a back surface field for the photogenerated electrons, which reduces recombination at the back contact and hence provides a low resistivity contact for holes. The results justify that the MoTe2 interfacial layer mediates an ohmic contact to CdTe films.

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Influence of deposition pressure and selenisation on damp heat degradation of the Cu(In,Ga)Se2 back contact molybdenum

Surface and Coatings Technology ◽

10.1016/j.surfcoat.2014.05.001 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 252 ◽

pp. 157-167 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Mirjam Theelen ◽

Krista Polman ◽

Mathieu Tomassini ◽

Nicolas Barreau ◽

Henk Steijvers ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Back Contact ◽

Deposition Pressure ◽

Heat Degradation

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Analysis of the impact of rear side geometry on performance of back-contact back-junction solar cells

2014 Fotonica AEIT Italian Conference on Photonics Technologies ◽

10.1109/fotonica.2014.6843919 ◽

2014 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Paul Procel ◽

Vincenzo Maccaronio ◽

Felice Crupi ◽

Giuseppe Cocorullo ◽

Mauro Zanuccoli

Keyword(s):

Solar Cells ◽

Rear Side ◽

Back Contact ◽

The Impact

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Phototransistor Behavior in CIGS Solar Cells and the Effect of the Back Contact Barrier

Energies ◽

10.3390/en13184753 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (18) ◽

pp. 4753

Author(s):

Ricardo Vidal Lorbada ◽

Thomas Walter ◽

David Fuertes Marrón ◽

Dennis Muecke ◽

Tetiana Lavrenko ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Thin Film ◽

Solar Cells ◽

Numerical Simulations ◽

Forward Bias ◽

Thin Film Solar Cells ◽

Normal Operation ◽

Back Contact ◽

Operation Conditions ◽

Contact Barrier ◽

The Impact

In this paper, the impact of the back contact barrier on the performance of Cu (In, Ga) Se2 solar cells is addressed. This effect is clearly visible at lower temperatures, but it also influences the fundamental parameters of a solar cell, such as open-circuit voltage, fill factor and the efficiency at normal operation conditions. A phototransistor model was proposed in previous works and could satisfactorily explain specific effects associated with the back contact barrier, such as the dependence of the saturated current in the forward bias on the illumination level. The effect of this contribution is also studied in this research in the context of metastable parameter drift, typical for Cu (In, Ga) Se2 thin-film solar cells, as a consequence of different bias or light soaking treatments under high-temperature conditions. The impact of the back contact barrier on Cu (In, Ga) Se2 thin-film solar cells is analyzed based on experimental measurements as well as numerical simulations with Technology Computer-Aided Design (TCAD). A barrier-lowering model for the molybdenum/Cu (In, Ga) Se2 Schottky interface was proposed to reach a better agreement between the simulations and the experimental results. Thus, in this work, the phototransistor behavior is discussed further in the context of metastabilities supported by numerical simulations.

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