Can Grain Boundaries Improve the Performance of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 Solar Cells?

Two-dimensional numerical device simulations investigate the influence of grain boundaries on the performance of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells focussing on the question whether or not grain boundaries can improve the efficiency of those devices. The results unveil the following statements: (i) The mere introduction of a grain boundary by adding localized defects into a device that has a high performance from the beginning is not beneficial. (ii) Polycrystalline solar cells can outperform monocrystalline ones, if the total number of defects is equal in both devices. I.e. a given number of recombination centers is better dealt with if these defects are concentrated at the grain boundary rather than homogeneously distributed in the bulk. (iii) A significant improvement of carrier collection via the grain boundaries is found if the bulk of the devices is assumed as relatively poor. In this situation, addition of defects that are not much recombination ac-tive but provide a large charge density at the grain boundaries can improve the device performance. (iv) Passivation of grain boundaries by an internal band offset in the valence band is effective only if the internal barrier amounts at least to 300 meV.