The Effect of Cu Zn Disorder on Charge Carrier Mobility and Lifetime in Cu2ZnSnSe4

Cu Zn disorder is one possible origin for the limited efficiencies of kesterite solar cells and its impact on the band gap and band tails have been intensively studied. However, the effect on charge transport and recombination, which are key properties for solar cells, has not been investigated so far. Therefore, we probe the impact of the Cu Zn order on charge carrier mobility and lifetime. To this end, we change the Cu Zn order of a co evaporated Cu2ZnSnSe4 thin film by sequential annealing and probe the impact by time resolved terahertz spectroscopy. Aside from of the well known band gap shift, we find no significant change in mobility and lifetime with Cu Zn order. This finding indicates that Cu Zn disorder is not limiting efficiencies of kesterite solar cells at their current status by means of charge carrier recombination and transpor

Minority and Majority Charge Carrier Mobility in Cu2ZnSnSe4 revealed by Terahertz Spectroscopy

The mobilities of electrons and holes determine the applicability of any semiconductor, but their individual measurement remains a major challenge. Here, we show that time resolved terahertz spectroscopy TRTS can distinguish the mobilities of minority and majority charge carriers independently of the doping type and without electrical contacts. To this end, we combine the well established determination of the sum of electron and hole mobilities from photo induced THz absorption spectra with mobility dependent ambipolar modeling of TRTS transients. The method is demonstrated on a polycrystalline Cu2ZnSnSe4 thin film and reveals a minority electron mobility of 128 cm2 V s and a majority hole carrier mobility of 7 cm2 V s in the vertical transport direction relevant for light emitting, photovoltaic and solar water splitting devices. Additionally, the TRTS analysis yields an effective bulk carrier lifetime of 4.4 ns, a surface recombination velocity of 6 104 cm s and a doping concentration of ca. 1016 cm 3, thus offering the potential for contactless screen novel optoelectronic material

Investigation of Cu poor and Cu rich Cu In,Ga Se2 CdS interfaces using hard X ray photoelectron spectroscopy

Cu poor and Cu rich Cu In,Ga Se2 CIGSe absorbers were used as substrates for the chemical bath deposition of ultrathin CdS buffer layers in the thickness range of a few nanometers in order to make the CIGSe CdS interface accessible by hard X ray photo emission spectroscopy. The composition of both, the absorber and the buffer layer as well as the energetics of the interface was investigated at room temperature and after heating the samples to elevated temperatures 200 C, 300 C and 400 C . It was found that the amount of Cd after the heating treatment depends on the near surface composition of the CIGSe absorber. No Cd was detected on the Cu poor surface after the 400 C treatment due to its diffusion into the CIGSe layer. In contrast, Cd was still present on the Cu rich surface after the same treatment at 400

Electron-beam-induced current at absorber back surfaces of Cu (In,Ga) Se2 thin-film solar cells

The following article appeared in Journal of Applied Physics 115.1 (2014): 014504 and may be found at http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/jap/115/1/10.1063/1.4858393The present work reports on investigations of the influence of the microstructure on electronic properties of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGSe) thin-film solar cells. For this purpose, ZnO/CdS/CIGSe stacks of these solar cells were lifted off the Mo-coated glass substrates. The exposed CIGSe backsides of these stacks were investigated by means of electron-beam-induced current (EBIC) and cathodoluminescence (CL) measurements as well as by electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD). EBIC and CL profiles across grain boundaries (GBs), which were identified by EBSD, do not show any significant changes at Σ3 GBs. Across non-Σ3 GBs, on the other hand, the CL signals exhibit local minima with varying peak values, while by means of EBIC, decreased and also increased short-circuit current values are measured. Overall, EBIC and CL signals change across non-Σ3 GBs always differently. This complex situation was found in various CIGSe thin films with different [Ga]/([In]+[Ga]) and [Cu]/([In]+[Ga]) ratios. A part of the EBIC profiles exhibiting reduced signals across non-Σ3 GBs can be approximated by a simple model based on diffusion of generated charge carriers to the GBs.This work was supported in part by the BMU projects comCIGS and comCIGSII. R.C. acknowledges financial support from Spanish MINECO within the program Ramon y Cajal (RYC-2011-08521)

Dependence of phase transitions on halide ratio in inorganic CsPb BrxI1 x 3 perovskite thin films obtained from high throughput experimentation

In this communication, we present the phase diagram of CsPb BrxI1 amp; 8722;x 3 0 amp; 8804; x amp; 8804; 1, 300 585 K obtained by high throughput in situ GIWAXS measurements of a combinatorial thin film library. We find that all compositions convert to the cubic perovskite phase at high temperature and that the presence of bromide in the films stabilizes the metastable perovskite phases upon cool down. In accordance with recent predictions from DFT calculations, the transition temperatures monotonically decrease with increasing bromide conten

Evolution of opto electronic properties during film formation of complex semiconductors

Optical and electrical properties of complex semiconducting alloys like Cu In,Ga Se2 CIGS are strongly influenced by the reaction pathways occurring during their deposition process. This makes it desirable to observe and control these properties in real time during the deposition. Here we show for the first time the evolution of the band gap and the sub band gap defect absorption of CIGS thin film as well as surface roughness during a three stage co evaporation process by means of an optical analysis technique, based on white light reflectometry WLR . By simultaneously recording structural information with in situ energy dispersive X ray diffraction and X ray fluorescence we can directly correlate the evolution of opto electronic material parameters with the structural properties of the film during growth. We find that the surface roughness and the sub gap light absorption can be correlated with the phase evolution during the transformation from In,Ga 2Se3 to Cu In,Ga Se2 by the incorporation of Cu into the film. Sub bandgap light absorption is found to be influenced by the Cusaturated growth phase and is lowered close to the points of stoichiometry, allowing for an advanced process desig