SiO x Patterned Based Substrates Implemented in Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 Ultrathin Solar Cells: Optimum Thickness

Interface recombination in sub-mu m optoelectronics has a major detrimental impact on devices' performance, showing the need for tailored passivation strategies to reach a technological boost. In this article, SiO$_x$ passivation based substrates were developed and integrated into ultrathin Cu(...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE journal of photovoltaics 2022-07, Vol.12 (4), p.954-961
Main Authors: Oliveira, Kevin, Teixeira, Jennifer P., Chen, Wei-Chao, Lontchi Jioleo, Jackson, Oliveira, Antonio J. N., Caha, Ihsan, Francis, Leonard Deepak, Flandre, Denis, Edoff, Marika, Fernandes, Paulo A., Salome, Pedro M. P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cu(In
electrical simulations
Ga)Se2 (CIGS
high-performance substrate
Integrated optics
Lithography
Optical imaging
optical simulations
Passivation
Performance evaluation
Photovoltaic cells
rear passivation strategy
silicon oxide (SiOx)
Substrates
ultrathin
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Interface recombination in sub-mu m optoelectronics has a major detrimental impact on devices' performance, showing the need for tailored passivation strategies to reach a technological boost. In this article, SiO$_x$ passivation based substrates were developed and integrated into ultrathin Cu(In,Ga)Se$_2$ (CIGS) solar cells. This article aims to understand the impact of a passivation strategy, which uses several SiO$_x$ layer thicknesses (3, 8, and 25 nm) integrated into high-performance substrates (HPS). The experimental study is complemented with 3-D lumerical finite-difference time-domain and 2-D Silvaco ATLAS optical and electrical simulations, respectively, to perform a decoupling of optical and electronic gains, allowing for a deep discussion on the impact of the SiO$_x$ layer thickness in the CIGS solar cell performance. This article shows that as the passivation layer thickness increases, a rise in parasitic losses is observed. Hence, a balance between beneficial passivation and optical effects with harmful architectural constraints defines a threshold thickness to attain the best solar cell performance. Analyzing their electrical parameters, the 8-nm novel SiO$_x$ based substrate achieved a light to power conversion efficiency value of 13.2%, a 1.3% absolute improvement over the conventional Mo substrate (without SiO$_x$).
ISSN:2156-3381
2156-3403
2156-3403
DOI:10.1109/JPHOTOV.2022.3165764