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Heat- and light-soaking behavior of RbF-treated Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells with two different buffer layers

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Abstract

Degradation in RbF post-deposition-treated (PDT) CIGS solar cells under heat/light/bias stress is evaluated for two different buffers, CdS and Zn(O,S). Initial efficiency of baseline CdS buffer devices is about 17.7% with and without RbF PDT. However, Zn(O,S) buffer devices show considerable improvement in net carrier concentration (NCV), VOC, and efficiency from 16.3 to 17.9% with RbF PDT. Under accelerated stress tests, CdS buffer devices show an increase in VOC under open circuit (OC) light soaking irrespective of the alkali treatments, and the devices are relatively stable under short circuit (SC) stress. Zn(O,S) buffer devices, however, show a decrease in VOC under all stress conditions irrespective of the alkali treatments. All performance metrics for Zn(O,S) buffer devices typically decreased with stress, resulting in significant efficiency loss. Device models show that an increase in recombination at the CIGS/Zn(O,S) interface and near interface doping can explain the degradation in these devices.

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Funding

This work was developed based upon funding from the Department of Energy Solar Energy Technology Office under Award No. DE-EE-0007750.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, USA

    Mohsen Jahandardoost, Curtis Walkons & Shubhra Bansal

  2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, USA

    Marco Nardone

  3. Zentrum Für Sonnenenergie- Und Wasserstoff-Forschung Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart, Germany

    Theresa Magorian Friedlmeier

Authors
  1. Mohsen Jahandardoost
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  2. Marco Nardone
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  3. Theresa Magorian Friedlmeier
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  5. Shubhra Bansal
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Correspondence to Shubhra Bansal.

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Jahandardoost, M., Nardone, M., Friedlmeier, T.M. et al. Heat- and light-soaking behavior of RbF-treated Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells with two different buffer layers. Journal of Materials Research 37, 436–444 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1557/s43578-021-00472-3

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