A comparison of the optoelectronic properties of high-efficiency polycrystalline and epitaxial Cu(In,Ga)Se2 photovoltaic films

Harvey Guthrey; Andrew Norman; Jiro Nishinaga; Hajime Shibata; Mowafak Al-Jassim; Shogo Ishizuka

doi:10.1117/12.2544950

3 March 2020 A comparison of the optoelectronic properties of high-efficiency polycrystalline and epitaxial Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ photovoltaic films

Harvey Guthrey, Andrew Norman, Jiro Nishinaga, Hajime Shibata, Mowafak Al-Jassim, Shogo Ishizuka

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 11275, Physics, Simulation, and Photonic Engineering of Photovoltaic Devices IX; 112750L (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2544950
Event: SPIE OPTO, 2020, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

Over the last several decades, champion photovoltaic (PV) devices using CuInGaSe2 (CIGS) as the absorber material have been achieved using polycrystalline films exclusively. This has led to the assumption that polycrystalline CIGS generally outperform single-crystal CIGS in PV devices. However, recently, very high-quality epitaxial CIGS has been grown on GaAs substrates producing PV device efficiencies of 20.0%. These results have revived the debate on what effects grain boundaries have on PV device efficiencies. In this contribution, we compare the optoelectronic properties of polycrystalline CIGS films with those of high-efficiency epitaxial CIGS films. This comparison reveals that grain boundaries are associated with properties that negatively impact PV device efficiency. Additionally, we find that the grain interiors in polycrystalline films exhibit properties that are similar to the high-performance epitaxial films. Our results suggest that it may be possible to achieve higher device efficiencies with epitaxial CIGS than with polycrystalline films.

Conference Presentation

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Harvey Guthrey, Andrew Norman, Jiro Nishinaga, Hajime Shibata, Mowafak Al-Jassim, and Shogo Ishizuka "A comparison of the optoelectronic properties of high-efficiency polycrystalline and epitaxial Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ photovoltaic films", Proc. SPIE 11275, Physics, Simulation, and Photonic Engineering of Photovoltaic Devices IX, 112750L (3 March 2020); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2544950

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