| The goal of this project is to develop a reliable approach to characterize defects in CdTe/CdS solar cells, taking into account the requirements dictated by the polycrystallinity of the device materials, to characterize solar cells prepared in different processing conditions, to develop an understanding on how processing variations correlate with changes in the overall device performance and stability, and to develop recommendations on the optimization of processing conditions based on this analysis.; Polycrystalline CdTe/CdS solar cells were studied using double boxcar deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) and correlation DLTS measurements to investigate the effect of the post-growth CdCl2 heat treatment, and the effect of the HgTe:Cu-doped graphite and Ni2P-based back contacts. The limitations of each deep-level characterization technique dictated by the polycrystalline nature of the CdTe/CdS heterostructure, were taken in consideration. Dark C-V, dark and illuminated J-V measurements were performed in order to monitor changes in the solar cell parameters during the deep level studies. To avoid issues associated with the metastability of some defects, all experiments were performed in the dark. Twelve traps were detected in the temperature range from 90K to 360K. Preliminary solar cell simulations using AMPS-1D were used to help understand the role of these traps in the current transport mechanism and the impact of their presence on the overall device performance. A donor-like defect with activation energy EA = 0.140 eV was identified as a chlorine-related DX2-state of (VCd2−-ClTe+) complex. Its presence in the CdTe layer was associated with significant degradation of overall solar cell performance. An acceptor-like defect with activation energy EA = 0.350 was identified as a defect Cu Cd− or complex (Cui+-2Cu Cd−)−. Recommendations for processing condition optimization are made based on the results of this study. |
