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Study of Heat Generation via Trap-Assisted Tunneling Recombination in Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)2 Thin-Film Solar Cells

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Abstract

Thermal stability is inevitable for upscaling and commercialization of third-generation photovoltaic devices. Heat generation in solar cells directly impacts their thermal stability. One of the rarely investigated heat-generation sources is tunneling recombination. Here, the heat generation via trap-assisted tunneling recombination (TATR) has been investigated for Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)2 or CZTSSe Kesterite thin-film solar cells using a coupled formulation and a simulation model developed by coupling the optical–electrical–thermal modules in the COMSOL simulation package. Heat generation from tunneling recombination was compared to heat from non-radiative Shockley–Read–Hall (SRH) recombination. All the simulations were performed for the three defects in the bulk of the CZTSSe and CdS layers: CuSn (0.55 eV), CuZn (0.1 eV), and SnZn (0.87 eV), which were chosen from the experimental data reported in the literature. Dark current density versus voltage and defect density were calculated and resulted in a higher tunneling recombination compared to the SRH recombination. The dark current density was also analyzed for a range of defect densities in the CdS partner layer, and for different recombination lifetimes, which resulted in a stronger dark current from TATR compared to SRH. Dark current in all the above analyses was obtained to be highest for CuSn. Finally, the heat-generation rate from the tunneling recombination was simulated versus voltage and cell thickness, and resulted in higher heat generation for the tunneling recombination, especially for the CuSn defect. This means that the contribution of the tunneling recombination to heat generation in thin-film solar cells is stronger than the non-radiative SRH recombination or interface recombination and could be a dominant thermal degradation mechanism in these cells, a finding that has often been neglected in the literature.

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  1. Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering and Petroleum, Kuwait University, Kuwait City, Kuwait

    Ali Hajjiah & Aliaa Hajiah

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  1. Ali Hajjiah
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  2. Aliaa Hajiah
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AH performed the simulations, validation of results, conceptualization, and manuscript preparation. AH performed simulations.

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Correspondence to Ali Hajjiah.

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Hajjiah, A., Hajiah, A. Study of Heat Generation via Trap-Assisted Tunneling Recombination in Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)2 Thin-Film Solar Cells. J. Electron. Mater. 52, 5987–5995 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-023-10540-5

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