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Energetics of Both Minority and Majority Carrier Transitions through Deep Defects in Wide Bandgap Pentenary Cu(In,Ga)(Se,S)2 Thin Film Solar Cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Adam Halverson ,
Shiro Nishiwaki ,
William Shafarman  and
J. David Cohen
Adam Halverson
Affiliation:
ahalvers@uoregon.edu, University of Oregon, Physics, 1252 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, 97403, United States
Shiro Nishiwaki
Affiliation:
snis@udel.edu, University of Delaware, Institute of Energy Conversion, Newark, DE, 19716, United States
William Shafarman
Affiliation:
wns@udel.edu, University of Delaware, Institute of Energy Conversion, Newark, DE, 19716, United States
J. David Cohen
Affiliation:
cohen@uoregon.edu, University of Oregon, Department of Physics, Eugene, OR, 97403, United States
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Abstract

We report and electronic and optical characterization of three wide-bandgap alloys of the Cu(InxGa1-x)(SeyS1-y)2 pentenary material system. Devices were characterized using admittance spectroscopy as well as drive-level capacitance profiling. The devices showed activated defect behavior typical of thin-film solar cell devices. Optical characterizations were carried out with Transient Photocapacitance and Transient Photocurrent spectroscopies. These data showed broad exponential bandtails with large Urbach energies, indicative of a moderately high degree of compositional and/or structural disorder. The temperature dependence of the TPC spectra was examined in detail and we were able to observe the thermal emission of electrons from defects into the conduction band. The emission energy of these features corresponds well with the measured optical threshold and the known bandgap of the cells. Thus we infer an upper bound of about 50meV for the lattice relaxation energy following the optical transition into the defect.

Keywords

thin filmphotovoltaicdefects
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1012: Symposium Y – Thin-Film Compound Semiconductor Photovoltaics-2007 , 2007 , 1012-Y04-04
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2007

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