Study of CdS/Cu(In,Ga)Se2 heterojunction interface using admittance and impedance spectroscopy

The interface properties of an unusual CdS/Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cell have been studied by admittance and impedance spectroscopy. The current transport in this device has previously appeared to be dominated by tunnelling enhanced recombination at junction interface. The existence of this unexpected route was attributed to the presence of Cu-rich and indium depleted thin layer which might possibly be formed on the absorber surface. We have performed temperature dependent admittance and impedance measurements in order to clarify this phenomenon. An acceptor level with ionization energy of about 50 meV seems to be strongly correlated to the appearance of the CuGaSe2 layer. The impedance spectra obtained at 100 K and 300 K exhibited single semi-circles. This indicates the dominance of the heterojunction interface without the effect of any other capacitive components. The equivalent circuit model consisting of a parallel resistor and capacitor in series with a resistor has been found to give a good fit to the experimental data. 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved