NDLI: Investigation of doped a-Si:H as a novel back contact material for CdTe solar cells

Content Provider	IEEE Xplore Digital Library
Author	Koirala, P. Zhiquan Huang Junda, M. Podraza, N.J. Marsillac, S. Rockett, A.A. Collins, R.W.
Copyright Year	2014
Description	Author affiliation: Dept. of Phys. & Astro., Univ. of Toledo, Toledo, OH, USA (Koirala, P.; Zhiquan Huang; Junda, M.; Podraza, N.J.; Collins, R.W.) \|\| Virginia Inst. of Photovoltaics, Old Dominion Univ., Norfolk, VA, USA (Marsillac, S.) \|\| Dept. of Mater. Sci. & Eng., Univ. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA (Rockett, A.A.)
Abstract	Wide band-gap, p-type doped, hydrogenated amorphous silicon-carbon alloy $(a-Si_{1-x}C_{x}:H:B)$ layers deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) under conditions that yield efficient hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) p-i-n solar cells have been applied as back contacts to sputter-deposited CdTe superstrate solar cells. We report a maximum observed $V_{oc}$ of 0.78 V and a best initial efficiency of ~ 7.7 % (relative to an ~ 12% standard cell baseline) without the introduction of Cu into the back contact region. We studied the stability of the best performing cells over a two year time period and found that although $V_{oc}$ is relatively stable, the series resistance of the cells increased significantly leading to fill-factor degradation. The role of hydrogen loss from the back contact layer via diffusion into the CdTe absorber is explored as a possible cause of this degradation. In related investigations, we have found that the effect of in-diffusing H on the CdTe solar cell performance is detrimental, as observed from a brief (~ 15 s) exposure of CdTe to a low power $H_{2}$ plasma between the treatment by $CdCl_{2}$ and the application of standard Cu/Au back contacts. This detrimental effect of H in the fabrication of the back contact layer from hydride gases, and the subsequent instability of the back contact itself, were found to be significant challenges encountered in this investigation.
Starting Page	2354
Ending Page	2359
File Size	1074048
Page Count	6
File Format	PDF
e-ISBN	9781479943982
DOI	10.1109/PVSC.2014.6925399
Language	English
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Publisher Date	2014-06-08
Publisher Place	USA
Access Restriction	Subscribed
Rights Holder	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Subject Keyword	Plasmas Photovoltaic cells Standards Performance evaluation Surface treatment Gold Degradation novel back contact CdS/CdTe photovoltaic cells hydrogenated amorphous silicon
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article

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1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
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3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
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