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Cu 2 ZnSnSe 4 thin film solar cells produced via co‐evaporation and annealing including a SnSe 2 capping layer
Author(s) -
Redinger Alex,
Mousel Marina,
Djemour Rabie,
Gütay Levent,
Valle Nathalie,
Siebentritt Susanne
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
progress in photovoltaics: research and applications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.286
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1099-159X
pISSN - 1062-7995
DOI - 10.1002/pip.2324
Subject(s) - annealing (glass) , thin film , solar cell , materials science , evaporation , equivalent series resistance , thin film solar cell , optoelectronics , layer (electronics) , white light , cadmium telluride photovoltaics , thin layer , nanotechnology , metallurgy , electrical engineering , physics , engineering , voltage , thermodynamics
Cu 2 ZnSnSe 4 (CZTSe) thin film solar cells have been produced via co‐evaporation followed by a high‐temperature annealing. In order to reduce the decomposition of the CZTSe, a SnSe 2 capping layer has been evaporated onto the absorber prior to the high‐temperature treatment. This eliminates the Sn losses due to SnSe evaporation. A solar cell efficiency of 5.1% could be achieved with this method. Moreover, the device does not suffer from high series resistance, and the dominant recombination pathway is situated in the absorber bulk. Finally, different illumination conditions (white light, red light, and yellow light) reveal a strong loss in fill factor if no carriers are generated in the CdS buffer layer. This effect, known as red‐kink effect, has also been observed in the closely related Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 thin film solar cells. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.