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Shunt mitigation in ZnO:Al/i‐ZnO/CdS/Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 solar modules by the i‐ZnO/CdS buffer combination
Author(s) -
Misic B.,
Pieters B. E.,
Theisen J. P.,
Gerber A.,
Rau U.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
physica status solidi (a)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.532
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1862-6319
pISSN - 1862-6300
DOI - 10.1002/pssa.201431496
Subject(s) - buffer (optical fiber) , copper indium gallium selenide solar cells , materials science , zinc , optoelectronics , metallurgy , solar cell , computer science , telecommunications
The influence of the i‐ZnO/CdS buffer layer on intentionally produced defects in Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 (CIGS) mini‐modules is investigated by electroluminescence (EL) imaging. Macroscopic shunts of the dimension of 100 μm in length and several μm in width were produced by mechanically removing locally one or several of the layers during the module production process. After creating the defects the modules were finished in the usual way. It is found that heavy shunts were produced whenever the doped ZnO:Al came into contact with the Mo back contact. The decline of photovoltaic performance is seen by a decrease of the EL intensity of the damaged cell. In contrast, considerable shunt mitigation was observed whenever the i‐ZnO/CdS buffer combination was present.