Simulation and performance analysis of CdTe thin film solar cell using different Cd-free zinc chalcogenide-based buffer layers

Abstract

In this study, the performance of a Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) thin-film solar cell was evaluated with various buffer layers (CdS, ZnSe, ZnO, ZnS) using the Silvaco-Atlas semiconductor device simulator. The impact of these buffer layers on the functionality of the CdTe solar cell was scrutinized at a temperature of 300 K under standard AM1.5G illumination. Initially, the modeling and simulation results of CdS/CdTe solar cell were examined, in comparison with the experimental and simulation results previously reported, to validate our reference structure and to explore its performance. The baseline CdS/CdTe solar cell, serving as a benchmark, yielded a conversion efficiency of 22.14 %. Then we attempted to identify an environmentally friendly alternative buffer layer for the CdTe thin film solar cell by substituting CdS with various Cd-free zinc chalcogenide-based materials (Zn(O,S,Se)) to boost efficiency. By trimming the layer thickness to approximately 0.01 μm, conversion efficiencies of 23.04 %, 23.13 % and 24.48 % were attained for the ZnO, ZnSe, and ZnS buffer layers, respectively. In order to investigate the performance of each proposed structure, thickness and doping density of the absorber and buffer layer were varied. Best efficiency around 25.23 % and 25.04 % are achieved for the optimized solar cells for ZnS and ZnSe buffer layer, respectively. As a result, ZnS and ZnSe are promising materials can be used as an alternative to the commonly used CdS buffer layer in CdTe solar cell. The influence of the operating temperature on solar cell performance was also investigated.