Title :
Effects of moisture on CIGSS solar cells
Author :
Olsen, Larry C. ; Kundu, Sambhu N.
Author_Institution :
Pacific Northwest Nat. Lab., Richland, WA, USA
Abstract :
This paper focuses on the effect of moisture on CIGSS cells made by Shell Solar Industries (SSI). These studies were carried out with 10 cm × 10 cm monolithically integrated CIGSS circuits and individual cells diced from circuits. Cells under investigation were subjected to an environment of 60°C/90%RH and characterized at various time intervals. Illuminated and dark I-V characteristics, and quantum efficiency were measured versus time. The effects of moisture on the sheet resistance of the ZnO TCO and the Zn/O ratio were also examined. Efficiency of uncoated CIGSS cells subjected to the accelerated test conditions degrade from 10% to 1% within a few hundred hours. Two significant effects are found to contribute to the degradation, the sheet resistance of ZnO increases significantly, and the junction recombination losses increase.
Keywords :
copper compounds; dark conductivity; electrical resistivity; gallium compounds; indium compounds; integrated circuit testing; life testing; moisture; monolithic integrated circuits; semiconductor device testing; solar cells; surface recombination; ternary semiconductors; 10 cm; 10 to 1 percent; 60 degC; 90 degC; CIGSS solar cells; Cu(InGa)(SSe)2-ZnO; Illuminated characteristics; Shell Solar Industries; Zn/O ratio; accelerated test conditions; dark I-V characteristics; junction recombination losses; moisture effects; monolithically integrated CIGSS circuits; quantum efficiency; sheet resistance; Degradation; Electrical resistance measurement; Integrated circuit measurements; Life estimation; Moisture; Photovoltaic cells; Radiative recombination; Testing; Time measurement; Zinc oxide;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2005. Conference Record of the Thirty-first IEEE
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-8707-4
DOI :
10.1109/PVSC.2005.1488176
