Title :
Material and device characterization of thin film Cu(InAl)Se2 solar cells
Author :
Shafarman, W.N. ; Marsillac, S. ; Paulson, P.D. ; Haimbodi, M.W. ; Minemoto, T. ; Birkmire, R.W.
Author_Institution :
Inst. of Energy Conversion, Delaware Univ., Newark, DE, USA
Abstract :
Cu(InAl)Se2 thin films have been deposited by elemental co-evaporation and solar cells with efficiency as high as 16.9% are demonstrated. The Cu(InAl)Se2 band gap has been varied from 1.1 to 1.7 eV by increasing Al/(In+Al) from 0 to 0.5 and the effect on material and device properties is presented. A 5 nm thick Ga layer between the Mo back contact and the Cu(InAl)Se2 film improves adhesion, allowing the substrate temperature to be increased from 450 to 530°C during evaporation. The effects of this increase in temperature are also presented. Finally, it is shown that Cu(InAl)Se2 cells with band gaps greater than 1.5 eV have comparable efficiencies to the best cells using other wide band gap chalcopyrite alloys.
Keywords :
adhesion; aluminium compounds; copper compounds; energy gap; indium compounds; semiconductor growth; semiconductor thin films; solar cells; substrates; ternary semiconductors; vacuum deposition; 1.1 to 1.7 eV; 16.9 percent; 450 to 530 degC; 5 nm; Cu(InAl)Se2; Ga; Ga layer; Mo; Mo back contact; adhesion; band gap; device characterization; efficiency; elemental co-evaporation; evaporation; material characterization; polycrystalline films; solar cells; substrate temperature; temperature increase; thin film Cu(InAl)Se2 solar cells; wide band gap chalcopyrite alloys; Adhesives; Energy conversion; Glass; Optical films; Photonic band gap; Photovoltaic cells; Sputtering; Substrates; Temperature; Thin film devices;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2002. Conference Record of the Twenty-Ninth IEEE
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-7471-1
DOI :
10.1109/PVSC.2002.1190616
