Electrical and compositional characterization of gallium grading in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells

Author

West, Bradley ; Guthrey, Harvey ; Lei Chen ; Jeffries, A. ; Bernardini, S. ; Lai, Binghua ; Maser, Jorg ; Shafarman, William ; Al-Jasim, Mowafak ; Bertoni, M.

Author_Institution

Ira A. Fulton Schools of Eng., Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ, USA

fYear

2014

fDate

8-13 June 2014

Firstpage

1726

Lastpage

1728

Abstract

Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) solar cells were characterized in cross section using electron beam induced current (EBIC) and synchrotron based x-ray fluorescence (XRF) measurements. Samples with varying gallium ratios and growth methods were compared. A correlation was observed between the compositional gallium grading profile from XRF and carrier activity seen in EBIC through the thickness of the CIGS layer. Samples with steep back grading showed carrier activity isolated near the CIGS/CdS interface, whereas a more uniform grading resulted in carrier activity seen throughout the absorber layer. `Notch´ grading showed only slight variation in EBIC profile compared to a back graded sample with similar gallium ratios.

Keywords

EBIC; III-VI semiconductors; X-ray fluorescence analysis; cadmium compounds; copper compounds; gallium compounds; indium compounds; solar cells; synchrotrons; ternary semiconductors; CIGS solar cells; Cu(InGa)Se₂-CdS; EBIC; XRF measurements; compositional characterization; electrical characterization; electron beam induced current; gallium grading; notch grading; synchrotron based X-ray fluorescence; Correlation; Energy resolution; Gallium; Indexes; Market research; RNA; Weight measurement; CIGS; EBIC; band gap grading; chalcopyrite; synchrotron; thin film; x-ray fluorescence;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC), 2014 IEEE 40th

Conference_Location

Denver, CO

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.2014.6925254

Filename

6925254