Journal
SOLAR RRL
Volume 5, Issue 10, Pages -Publisher
WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH
DOI: 10.1002/solr.202100485
Keywords
band alignment; CdS thickness; deposition mechanisms; heat treatments; reaction ranges
Funding
- Technology Development Program to Solve Climate Changes of the National Research Foundation (NRF) - Ministry of Science and ICT [NRF-2016M1A2A2936753]
- Research and Development Program of the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) [C1-2403]
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Using a QCM system to accurately obtain an adjustable CdS layer, researchers examined the characteristics and performances of 30 nm-thick CdS layers compared to conventional 60 nm-thick CdS buffer. Most CIGS solar cells with the 30 nm-thick CdS buffer showed higher efficiency than those with the 60 nm-thick CdS buffer due to improved J(sc), despite CIGS with the 30 nm CdS formed in the middle range exhibiting the lowest photovoltaic performance. Further analysis on all deposited CdS layers and the effect of heat treatment was conducted to explain these results.
To accurately obtain an adjustable CdS layer, a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) system is used in the chemical bath deposition (CBD) method by measuring the frequency change. However, although the thickness of the CdS layers deposited using the QCM system can be accurately adjusted to the same thickness, CdS layers of the same thickness formed in each section of the continuous reaction are expected to have different properties due to the reaction rate and mechanism, ultimately affecting the performance of solar cells. Therefore, 30 nm-thick CdS layers are formed in the various reaction sections (initial, middle, and late ranges) and their characteristics and performances are examined and compared with the conventional 60 nm-thick CdS buffer layer. Most Cu(In,Ga)Se-2 (CIGS) solar cells with the 30 nm-thick CdS buffer exhibit a higher efficiency than those with the 60 nm-thick CdS buffer due to improved J(sc). However, the CIGS with the 30 nm CdS formed in the middle range exhibits the lowest photovoltaic performance. To investigate this unexpected result, all the deposited CdS layers are chemically, structurally, and optically examined and the results are explained by a deposition mechanism study. Furthermore, the effect of heat treatment is demonstrated by band alignment.
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