The electronic structure of chalcopyrites-bands, point defects and grain boundaries

We summarize the progress made recently in understanding the electronic structure of chalcopyrites. New insights into the dispersion of valence and conduction band allow conclusions on the effective masses of charge carriers and their orientation dependence, which influences the transport in solar cell absorbers of different orientation. Native point defects are responsible for the doping and thus the band bending in solar cells. Results of optoelectronic defect spectroscopy are reviewed. Native defects are also the source for a number of metastabilities, which strongly affect the efficiency of solar cells. Recent theoretical findings relate these effects to the Se vacancy and the In-Cu antisite defect. Experimentally determined activation energies support these models. Absorbers in chalcopyrite solar cells are polycrystalline, which is only possible because of the benign character of the grain boundaries. This can be related to an unusual electronic structure of the GB. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.