Minority carrier collection in CuGaSe 2 solar cells

Abstract

The photovoltaic performance of CuGaSe 2 thin-film solar cells is limited by their relatively low open circuit voltage and by poor carrier collection that reduces the short circuit current of these devices. In addition, the photocurrent exhibits a strong voltage dependence that additionally degrades the fill factor of the solar cell. This contribution provides an experimental investigation of the spectral quantum efficiency (QE) of CuGaSe 2 solar cells with and without bias voltage. Experimentally, we find two different types of current collection in CuGaSe 2 solar cells. In the first case, application of reverse bias voltage leads to an increase of the QE in the long wavelength regime. This behaviour results from the increase of carrier collection by increasing the space charge region. Other cells, though having as well a low response in the long wavelength regime of the QE spectra, do not exhibit a strong voltage dependence of carrier collection. In these cells, a part of the absorber material appears not to contribute to the photocurrent at all.