Surface Passivation of CIGS Solar Cells Using Gallium Oxide. Issue 7 (27th February 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Garud, Siddhartha; Gampa, Nikhil; Allen, Thomas G.; Kotipalli, Ratan; Flandre, Denis; Batuk, Maria; Hadermann, Joke; Meuris, Marc; Poortmans, Jef; Smets, Arno; Vermang, Bart
• Is Part Of: Physica status solidi. Volume 215:Issue 7(2018)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2018-02-27
• Subjects: CIGS solar cells -- gallium oxide -- plasma‐enhanced atomic layer deposition -- surface passivation; Solid state physics -- Periodicals; Solids -- Industrial applications -- Periodicals; 530.41
• DOI: 10.1002/pssa.201700826
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1862-6300

Abstract

Abstract : This work proposes gallium oxide grown by plasma‐enhanced atomic layer deposition, as a surface passivation material at the CdS buffer interface of Cu(In, Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells. In preliminary experiments, a metal‐insulator‐semiconductor (MIS) structure is used to compare aluminium oxide, gallium oxide, and hafnium oxide as passivation layers at the CIGS‐CdS interface. The findings suggest that gallium oxide on CIGS may show a density of positive charges and qualitatively, the least interface trap density. Subsequent solar cell results with an estimated 0.5 nm passivation layer show an substantial absolute improvement of 56 mV in open‐circuit voltage ( VOC ), 1 mA cm −2 in short‐circuit current density ( JSC ), and 2.6% in overall efficiency as compared to a reference (with the reference showing 8.5% under AM 1.5G). Abstract : This work proposes gallium oxide as a surface passivation layeron the photovoltaic material in Cu(In, Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells. A metal‐insulator‐semiconductor (MIS) structure is used to compare aluminium oxide, gallium oxide, and hafnium oxide for this purpose. Solar cells fabricated with gallium oxide deposited between the CIGS and CdS buffer layer interface, show better performance than reference cells.