Fabrication, Electrical Characterization and Simulation of Thin Film Solar Cells: CdTe and CIGS Materials

Es'haghi Gorji, Nima (2014) Fabrication, Electrical Characterization and Simulation of Thin Film Solar Cells: CdTe and CIGS Materials, [Dissertation thesis], Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna. Dottorato di ricerca in Ingegneria elettrotecnica, 26 Ciclo. DOI 10.6092/unibo/amsdottorato/6244.
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Abstract

CdTe and Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) thin film solar cells are fabricated, electrically characterized and modelled in this thesis. We start from the fabrication of CdTe thin film devices where the R.F. magnetron sputtering system is used to deposit the CdS/CdTe based solar cells. The chlorine post-growth treatment is modified in order to uniformly cover the cell surface and reduce the probability of pinholes and shunting pathways creation which, in turn, reduces the series resistance. The deionized water etching is proposed, for the first time, as the simplest solution to optimize the effect of shunt resistance, stability and metal-semiconductor inter-diffusion at the back contact. In continue, oxygen incorporation is proposed while CdTe layer deposition. This technique has been rarely examined through R.F sputtering deposition of such devices. The above experiments are characterized electrically and optically by current-voltage characterization, scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction and optical spectroscopy. Furthermore, for the first time, the degradation rate of CdTe devices over time is numerically simulated through AMPS and SCAPS simulators. It is proposed that the instability of electrical parameters is coupled with the material properties and external stresses (bias, temperature and illumination). Then, CIGS materials are simulated and characterized by several techniques such as surface photovoltage spectroscopy is used (as a novel idea) to extract the band gap of graded band gap CIGS layers, surface or bulk defect states. The surface roughness is scanned by atomic force microscopy on nanometre scale to obtain the surface topography of the film. The modified equivalent circuits are proposed and the band gap graded profiles are simulated by AMPS simulator and several graded profiles are examined in order to optimize their thickness, grading strength and electrical parameters. Furthermore, the transport mechanisms and Auger generation phenomenon are modelled in CIGS devices.

Abstract
Tipologia del documento
Tesi di dottorato
Autore
Es'haghi Gorji, Nima
Supervisore
Co-supervisore
Dottorato di ricerca
Scuola di dottorato
Ingegneria industriale
Ciclo
26
Coordinatore
Settore disciplinare
Settore concorsuale
Parole chiave
CdTe, CIGIS materials, Thin Film, Solar Cells, Photovoltaics, Fabrication, Characterization, Modeling
URN:NBN
DOI
10.6092/unibo/amsdottorato/6244
Data di discussione
11 Marzo 2014
URI

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