Effect of back-contact copper concentration on CdTe cell operation

Author

Pudov, A.O. ; Gloeckler, M. ; Demtsu, S.H. ; Sites, J.R. ; Barth, Kurt L. ; Enzenroth, R.A. ; Sampath, W.S.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Phys., Colorado State Univ., Ft. Collins, CO, USA

fYear

2002

fDate

19-24 May 2002

Firstpage

760

Lastpage

763

Abstract

CdTe solar cells were fabricated with five different concentrations of copper, including zero, used in back-contact formation. Room-temperature J-V curves showed progressive deterioration in fill factor with reduced copper. J_SC and QE were similar for all Cu-levels. Capacitance measurement suggested enhanced intermixing at the back contact with copper present. Photocurrent mapping was much less uniform for reduced-Cu cells. Elevated-temperature stress induced very little change in J-V when sufficient Cu was used in the contact.

Keywords

II-VI semiconductors; cadmium compounds; capacitance; chemical interdiffusion; copper; semiconductor device reliability; semiconductor device testing; solar cells; CdTe solar cells; CdTe-ZnTe:Cu; back-contact copper concentration; capacitance measurement; elevated-temperature stress; enhanced intermixing; fill factor deterioration; photocurrent mapping; room-temperature J-V curves; Capacitance measurement; Capacitance-voltage characteristics; Copper; Earth; Mechanical engineering; Photoconductivity; Photovoltaic cells; Physics; Temperature dependence; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2002. Conference Record of the Twenty-Ninth IEEE

ISSN

1060-8371

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7471-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.2002.1190676

Filename

1190676