Trap-assisted recombination for ohmic-like contact at p-type Cu(In,Ga)Se2/back n-type TCO interface in superstrate-type solar cell

Abstract

Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells with superstrate-type structure of soda-lime glass (SLG)/epoxy/Al/ZnO:Al (AZO)/ZnO/CdS/CIGS/back n-type transparent conductive oxide (TCO) electrode/Al are fabricated by lift-off process. AZO or In2O3:Sn (ITO) is used as the back n-type TCO electrode. Ohmic-like contact between p-type CIGS and n-type D-TCO (damage-TCO), namely, D-AZO or D-ITO, is formed through the trap-assisted recombination. The D-TCO, meaning TCO with high sputtering damage on the CIGS surface, is prepared under the optimization of its deposition condition, namely, the power density of 2.4 W/cm2 for D-AZO or 3.3 W/cm2 for D-ITO, for high defect density on the CIGS surface to promote the trap-assisted recombination. Ultimately, the superstrate-type CIGS solar cell with a bi-layer of D-AZO/AZO as back n-type TCO electrode with conversion efficiency (η) of 9.2% is achieved, which is 70% of η of the substrate-type CIGS solar cell before lift-off process. The bi-layer of D-AZO/AZO is utilized owing to high resistivity of D-AZO (about 0.1 Ω cm). On the other hand, the superstrate-type CIGS solar cell with D-ITO as the back n-type TCO electrode with η of 10.4% is attained, which is 93.7% of η of the substrate-type CIGS solar cell, where the resistivity of the D-ITO layer is low at about 5.0 × 10−3 Ω cm.