In order to make high efficiency and low cost solar cell modules, the concept of third generation of photovoltaic modules have been provided. The first generation solar cell: Crystal Si solar cell including single crystal and poly-crystal Si solar cell；The second generation solar cell：Thin film solar cell including Si base thin film, CIGS, CdTe and III-V thin films; The third generation solar cell is the future high efficiency and low cost solar cell modules, such as low cost quantum dots solar cell, Si base thin film tandem and triple cell modules, III-V solar cell on Si, HIT solar cell and nanotechnology with no vacuum technique such as printable technologies and etc. This paper reviewed the advantages and disadvantages of each generation of the solar cell modules and technologies and discussed the research and development of the third generation of photovoltaic modules including the detail technology developments.

High quality dilute nitride subcells for multijunction solar cells are achieved using GaInNAsSb. The effects on device performance of Sb composition, strain and purity of the GaInNAsSb material are discussed. New world records in efficiency have been set with lattice-matched InGaP/GaAs/GaInNAsSb triple junction solar cells and a roadmap to 50% efficiency with lattice-matched multijunction solar cells using GaInNAsSb is shown.

This paper shows a new semiconductor bonding technology for mechanically stacked multi-junction solar cells. Our strategy is the combination of conductive nanoparticle alignments and the van der Waals bonding technique. With this method, reasonably low bonding resistances and minimal optical absorption losses were simultaneously attained for the use of mechanically stacked solar cells. We examined a GaInP(Eg-1.89 eV)/GaAs (Eg-1.42 eV)/InGaAsP (Eg-1.15 eV) three-junction solar cell fabricated with this bonding method. As a result, the total efficiency of 22.5% was achieved, which was in good agreement with the theoretically predicted value. These results suggested that our bonding method is highly useful to fabricate high-efficiency mechanically stacked multi-junction solar cells.

MoO3 films with a high work function (5.5 eV), high transparency, and a wide bandgap (3.0 - 3.4 eV) are a potential candidate for the primary back contact of Cu(InGa)Se2 thin film solar cells. This may be advantageous to form ohmic contact in superstrate devices where the back contact will be deposited after the Cu(InGa)Se2 layer and MoSe2 layer doesn’t form during Cu(InGa)Se2 deposition. In addition, the MoO3 may be incorporated in a transparent back contact in tandem or bifacial cells. In this study, MoO3 films for use as a back contact for Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin film solar cells were prepared by reactive rf sputtering with O2/(O2+Ar) = 35%. The effect of post processing on the structural properties of the deposited films were investigated using x-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. Annealing resulted in crystallization of the films to the α-MoO3 phases at 400°C. Increasing the oxygen partial pressure had no significant effect on optical transmittance of the films, and bandgaps in the range of 2.6-2.9 eV and 3.1-3.4 eV were obtained for the as deposited and annealed films, respectively. Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin film solar cells prepared using an as-deposited Mo-MoO3 back contact yielded an efficiency of >14% with VOC = 647 (mV), JSC = 28.4 (mA), and FF. = 78.1%. Cells with ITO-MoO3 back contact showed an efficiency of ∼12% with VOC = 642 (mV), JSC = 26.8 (mA), and FF. = 69.2%. The efficiency of cells with an annealed MoO3 back contact was limited to 4%, showing a blocking diode behavior in the forward bias J-V curve. This may be caused by the presence of a barrier between the valence bands of the Cu(In,Ga)Se2 and MoO3, due to the higher bandgap of the annealed MoO3 films. SEM cross section studies showed uniform coverage of the as-deposited MoO3 layer and formation of voids for the annealed MoO3 film. Structural orientation of the Cu(In,Ga)Se2 absorber layer was also altered by the MoO3 film and less-oriented films were observed for either cases.

We fabricated Cu2ZnSn(SxSe1-x)4 (CZTSSe) solar cells by a printing and high-pressure sintering (PHS) process. First, the CZTSSe solid solution powders were synthesized by heating the elemental mixtures at 550oC for 5 h in an N2 gas atmosphere. We fabricated CZTSSe films by a printing and high-pressure sintering (PHS) process. The obtained dense CZTSSe film was post-annealed at 550oC for 10 min under an N2 +5% H2S gas atmosphere. We fabricated CZTSSe solar cells with the device structure of Ag/ITO/i-ZnO/CdS/CZTSSe/Mo/soda-lime glass. The CZTSSe solar cell showed an efficiency of 2.1%, with Voc of 272 mV, Jsc of 18.0 mA/cm2 and FF of 0.44.

Cupric oxide thin films were sputtered onto soda-lime glass slides from a single pre-formed ceramic target using a radio-frequency power supply. The effects of oxygen partial pressure and substrate temperature on the optical, electrical and structural properties of the films were studied. It was found that increasing temperature resulted in increased crystallinity and crystal size but also increased film resistivity. The most conductive films were those deposited at room temperature. Increasing oxygen partial pressure was found to reduce resistivity dramatically. This is thought to be due to higher charge carrier concentrations resulting from increased copper vacancies. Increasing oxygen partial pressure causes an increase in the optical band gap from a minimum of 0.8eV up to a maximum of 1.42eV. Oxygen-rich films display reduced crystallinity, becoming increasingly amorphous with increased oxygen content. These results show that the optical, electrical and structural properties of sputtered cupric oxide films can be controlled by alteration of the deposition environment.

We have studied Cu2S absorber layers prepared by physical vapor deposition (PVD) by calibrated spectral photoluminescence (PL) and by confocal PL as function of temperature T and excitation fluxes to obtain the absolute PL-yield at an excitation flux equivalent to the AM1.5 spectrum and to calculate the splitting of the quasi-Fermi levels (QFL) µ = Ef,n-Ef,p and the absorption coefficient α(E), both in the temperature range 20 K ≤ T ≤ 400 K. The PL-spectra reveal two peaks at E1 = 1.17 eV and E2 = 1.3 eV, of which the low energy peak is only detectable at temperatures T < 200 K. The samples show an impressive QFL-splitting of µ > 700 meV at 300 K associated with a pseudo band gap of Eg = 1.25 eV. The high energy peak shows an unexpected temperature behavior, namely an increase of the PL-yield with rising temperature at variance with the behavior of QFL-splitting that decreases with rising T from extrapolated T = 0K value of µ = 1.3 eV. The PL-yield versus temperature will be discussed in terms of different defect states in the band gap. Our observations indicate that, contrary to common believe, it is not the PL-yield, but rather the QFL-splitting that is the comprehensive indicator of the quality of the excited state in an illuminated semiconductor. A further examination of the lateral variation of the opto-electronic properties by confocal PL shows a strong correlation between the QFL-splitting, the Urbach energy EU and the optical band gap Eopt, respectively.

Laser annealing experiments on commercially available phase pure tenorite (CuO) nanoparticles (NPs) were performed in air and nitrogen atmosphere to improve the structural and electronic properties, with respect to their suitability for photovoltaic applications. The particles exhibit size variations from about 30 nm to 100 nm. The influence of the thermal treatment is investigated by photoluminescence (PL) and Raman spectroscopy. Annealing of the particles in air by a laser treatment improved the material quality by defect reduction. Additional laser annealing in N2 atmosphere leads to a phase transition of the NPs from tenorite to cuprite (Cu2O). Due to the low partial oxygen pressure, the transition is initiated at about 1/3 of the maximum laser power used for the series in air, which is indicated by a drastic increase of the band edge emission from Cu2O. However, annealing with higher laser power leads to strong defect luminescence, which originates from copper and oxygen vacancies. A weak remaining tenorite band edge emission shows an incomplete phase transition.

Roll-to-roll deposition techniques for the fabrication of chalcopyrite solar cells are of major interest and are a promising alternative to state of the art vacuum processes. However, for roll-to-roll processes the preparation of precursor materials like nanoparticle inks is a crucial point. In this work a study on the preparation technique of copper-indium intermetallic nanoparticles was conducted. The preparation of the nanoparticles is based on the chemical reduction of copper and indium cations with sodium borohydride. Different parameters are discussed regarding their influence on (1) size and shape of the nanoparticles, (2) Cu/In ratio within the synthesised nanoparticles and (3) yield of the synthesis. Results show a strong dependency of the Cu/In ratio of the nanoparticles and the yield of the synthesis on the synthesis parameters. The influence of different parameters like (a) the ratio of metal cations to BH4- anions, (b) the Cu2+/In3+ cation ratio within the precursor solution and (c) the dropping rate of the copper-indium precursor solution are discussed. The Cu/In ratio within the nanoparticles can mainly be controlled by the Cu2+/In3+ cation ratio and the dropping rate of the copper-indium precursor solution. The yield of the synthesis shows saturation behaviour depending on the ratio of metal cations to BH4- anions. Shape and size of the nanoparticles are independent of the varied parameters.

Highly transparent conductive Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) films are one of the promising transparent conductive oxide (TCO) films for use in electrodes of flat display panels and window layers of thin film solar cells. For the ZnO-based TCO films, the stability to damp-heat environment is a crucial issue for practical applications. We will report moisture resistant GZO codoped with indium films (GZO:In) on the basis of analysis of data obtained a damp-heat test for solar cells (85°C and 85% relative humidity for 1000 hours).

We used ZnO sintered targets with contents of 3 wt% Ga2O3 and 0.25 wt% In2O3 to grow GZO:In films in ion plating with direct current arc-discharge system. GZO:In films with different thicknesses (0.1-1 μm) were deposited on glass substrates at 200°C under the O2 flow rate of 15 sccm. As the film thickness increased from 0.1 to 1 μm, the resistivity and sheet resistance decreased from 4.3 μΩm to 2.6 μΩm and from 42.7 Ω/Sq. to 2.6 Ω/Sq., respectively. And the average optical transmittance (Tav) in the range from 0.4 to 1 μm decreased from ∼ 86% to ∼ 75%. The GZO:In film with a thickness of ∼300 nm had a low sheet resistance of 10.5 Ω/Sq. and a Tav of 82.5%. After 1000 hours damp-heat (DH) test under 85°C and 85% relative humidity, the relative change of sheet resistance is 3.4% with a Hall mobility of 26.4 cm2/V.s and a Tav of 82.7% after test. The film thicker than 300 nm has a sheet resistance lower than 10 Ω/Sq. and a relative change of resistance of ∼3% after DH test.

An effective n-type doping of ZnO using Cl was demonstrated in thin films electrochemically synthetized by adding different amounts of chlorine ions in the starting electrolyte. The ratio between chlorine and zinc cations was varied between 0 and 2 while the zinc concentration in the solution was kept constant. When the concentration of chloride in the bath increases an effective n-type doping of ZnO films takes place. n-type doping is evidenced by the rise of donors concentration, obtained from Mott-Schottky measurements, as well as from the blue shift observed in the optical gap owing to the Burstein-Moss effect.

In a constant effort to capture effectively more of the spectral range from the sun, multi-junction cells are being investigated. In this context, the marriage of thin film and dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC) PV technologies may be able to offer greater efficiency whilst maintaining the benefits of each individual technology. DSC devices offer advantages in the nature of both the metal oxide photo-electrode and dye absorption bands, which can be tuned to vary the optical performance of this part of a tandem device, while CdTe cells absorb the majority of light above their band-gap in only a few microns of thickness. The key challenge is to assess the optical losses with the goal of reaching a net gain in photocurrent and consequently increased conversion efficiency. This study reports on the influence of optical losses from various parts of the stacked tandem structure using UV-VIS spectrometry and EQE measurements. A net gain in photocurrent was achieved from a model developed for the DSC/CdTe mechanically stacked tandem structure.

We present the new characterization technique of multi-dimensional admittance measurements. In standard admittance measurements, a semiconductor device is probed in the transverse dimension, between flat plate contacts. We extend such measurements to distributed, possibly non-uniform solar cells where one of the two contacts has very small (point-like) dimensions. As a result, both the real and displacement currents spread into lateral directions while flowing between the electrodes. Correspondingly, the probing electric field may result in contact voltages that are laterally not equipotential. The spatial voltage distribution will depend on the probing DC bias and AC frequency. The resulting measurement will give information about the system’s lump parameters, such as open circuit voltage, sheet and shunt resistances, as well as the presence and location of shunts. Understanding of the measurement is developed through intuitive and analytic models. Numerical models, utilizing finite element circuits, are used to verify the analytic results, and also may be directly compared to or used to fit experimental data. While our focus is on introducing the physical theory, early experimental results demonstrating spatial scaling are shown.

Very recently, Cu3BiS3 has been suggested as an alternative material for photovoltaic (PV) thin-film technologies. In this work, we analyze the electronic and optical properties of Cu3BiY3 with the anion elements Y = S, Se, and Te, employing a first-principles approach within the density function theory. We find that the three Cu3BiY3 compounds have indirect band gaps and the gap energies are in the region of 1.2–1.7 eV. The energy dispersions of the lowest conduction bands are small, and therefore the direct gap energies are only ∼0.1 eV larger than the fundamental gap energies. The flat conduction bands are explained by the presence of localized Bi p-states in the band gap region. Flat energy dispersion implies a large optical absorption, and the calculations reveal that the absorption coefficient of Cu3BiY3 is larger than 105 cm−1 for photon energies of ∼2.5 eV. The absorption is stronger than other Cu-S based materials like CuInS2 and Cu2ZnSnS4. Thereby, Cu3BiY3 has the potential to be a suitable material in thin-film PV technologies.

The objective of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL) current three-year CdTe plan under the U.S. Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative is to identify primary mechanisms that limit the open-circuit voltage and fill factor of polycrystalline CdTe photovoltaic (PV) devices, and develop CdTe synthesis processes and/or device designs that avoid these limitations. Part of this project relies on analysis of crystalline materials and pseudocrystalline CdTe layers where point and extended defects can be introduced sequentially without the complications of extensive impurities and grain boundaries that are typical of present polycrystalline films. The ultimate goals of the project include producing CdTe PV devices that demonstrate ≥20% conversion efficiency, while significantly improving our understanding of processes and materials capable of attaining cost goals of <$0.50 per watt. While NREL is investigating several options for the routine fabrication of high-quality CdTe layers, one pathway involves CdTe molecular beam heteroepitaxy (MBE) on Si in collaboration with the University of Illinois at Chicago. Although CdTe/Si heteroepitaxy is relatively unfamiliar to researchers in the PV community, it has been used successfully for more than 20 years to produce high-quality CdTe surfaces required for commercial production of large-area single-crystal HgCdTe infrared detectors and focal-plane arrays. The process involves chemical and thermal preparation of Si (211) wafers, followed by deposition of As-passivation and ZnTeaccommodation layers. MBE-grown CdTe layers deposited on top of this “template” have been shown to demonstrate low etch-pit density (EPD, preferably ≤ ∼5x105 cm-2) and high structural quality (full width at half maximum ∼ 60 arcs). These initial studies indicate that 10-μm-thick CdTe layers on Si are indeed epitaxial with cathodoluminescence-determined dislocation density consistent with historic EPD measurements, and that recombination rates are distinct from either as-deposited polycrystalline or crystalline materials.

The role of CdTe solar cell processing on the defect chemistry that limits open circuit voltage (VOC) is addressed in the thermochemical processing regimes commonly encountered in present-generation CdTe devices. The highest VOC is 0.91 V for a bulk CdTe crystal with ITO which is only marginally higher than VOC = 0.86 V obtained for polycrystalline CdTe films with CdS. Both fall ∼0.4 V short of the VOC expected for CdTe, having band gap EG = 1.5 eV. The present >16% efficient superstrate CdTe cell uses a process based on high-temperature, T > 500°C, CdTe growth on CdS, coupled with optimized methods for incorporating oxygen, sulfur, copper, and chloride species in the CdTe film. Pushing cell conversion efficiencies beyond 20% will require increasing VOC beyond 1V. However the present pathway of processing optimization will likely yield VOC and efficiency converging on 0.9 V and <20%, respectively.

The CdTe photoluminescence spectra of CdTe/CdS/ZnO heterojunctions annealed in the presence of CdCl2 have been analyzed in the 4.7-100K temperature range. The analysis has been performed for laser excitation power between 0.01 mW and 30 mW. The analysis showed that the photoluminescence spectrum in the 1.1-1.6 eV region consists of a defect band (1.437 eV) having complex structure and revealing well contoured LO phonon replicas and bound exciton annihilation in the 1.587-1.593 eV region. The band analysis has been carried out by deconvoluting the spectra. It has been shown that the defect band consists of two elementary bands and their phonon replica. An “unusual” temperature dependence of the defect band has been found.

The traditional CdCl2 passivation of CdTe is expanded by adding other chlorides such as MgCl2, NaCl, and MnCl2 into the process through a two-step passivation procedure that combines closed space sublimation step with a vapor process. This allows the possibility of forming a highly doped field at the back of the device that could act as an electron reflector that could boost device performance by directing electrons back into the absorber layer and increasing the voltage while limiting recombination at the back of the device. The effects the two-step passivation process on device performance are characterized by current-voltage measurements, and by electroluminescence and laser-beam induced current images to show the degree of device uniformity. Additionally, capacitance voltage measurements are used to study doping density, depletion width, and possible formation of a field at the back of the device.

Thin film deposition process and integrated scribing technologies are key to forming large area Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) modules. In this paper, baseline Cd1-xZnxS/CdTe solar cells were deposited by atmospheric-pressure metal organic chemical vapor deposition (AP-MOCVD) onto commercially available ITO coated boro-aluminosilicate glass substrates. Thermally evaporated gold contacts were compared with a screen printed stack of carbon/silver back contacts in order to move towards large area modules. P2 laser scribing parameters have been reported along with a comparison of mechanical and laser scribing process for the scribe lines, using a UV Nd:YAG laser at 355 nm and 532 nm fiber laser.

We report on the maskless integration of micron-sized GaAs crystals on patterned Si substrates by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy. In order to adapt the mismatch between the lattice parameter and thermal expansion coefficient of GaAs and Si, 2 μm tall Ge crystals were first grown as virtual substrate by low energy plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. We investigate the morphological evolution of the GaAs structures grown on top of the Ge crystals at the transition towards full pyramids with energetically stable {111} facets. A substantial release of strain is shown in GaAs crystals with a height of 2 μm and lateral sizes up to 15×15 μm2 by both X-ray diffraction and photoluminescence.