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SHORT COMMUNICATION: ACCELERATED PUBLICATION: Diode characteristics in state‐of‐the‐art ZnO/CdS/Cu(In 1− x Ga x )Se 2 solar cells
Author(s) -
Contreras Miguel A.,
Ramanathan K.,
AbuShama J.,
Hasoon F.,
Young D. L.,
Egaas B.,
Noufi R.
Publication year - 2005
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.626
Subject(s) - saturation current , diode , optoelectronics , band gap , crystallite , materials science , copper indium gallium selenide solar cells , thin film solar cell , thin film , solar cell , voltage , nanotechnology , electrical engineering , metallurgy , engineering
We report a new state of the art in thin‐film polycrystalline Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 ‐based solar cells with the attainment of energy conversion efficiencies of 19·5%. An analysis of the performance of Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 solar cells in terms of some absorber properties and other derived diode parameters is presented. The analysis reveals that the highest‐performance cells can be associated with absorber bandgap values of ∼1·14 eV, resulting in devices with the lowest values of diode saturation current density (∼3×10 −8 mA/cm 2 ) and diode quality factors in the range 1·30 < A < 1·35. The data presented also support arguments of a reduced space charge region recombination as the reason for the improvement in the performance of such devices. In addition, a discussion is presented regarding the dependence of performance on energy bandgap, with an emphasis on wide‐bandgap Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 materials and views toward improving efficiency to > 1;20% in thin‐film polycrystalline Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 solar cells. Published in 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.