Non-contacting optical probes based on spectroscopic ellipsometry or reflectance measurements are used to predict photovoltaic (PV) device performance and to diagnose optical and electronic losses. Optical modeling of aluminum back surface field (Al-BSF) silicon, thin film cadmium telluride (CdTe), and hybrid organic inorganic lead halide based perovskite (FA1−xCsxPbI3) solar cell technologies are reviewed. Using the near infrared (IR) to ultraviolet (UV) optical properties of PV device component materials and the device structures as input, external quantum efficiency (EQE) spectra are simulated for Al-BSF, CdTe, and perovskite solar cells for comparison with experimental EQE and short circuit current density (JSC). Optical Hall effect measurements of Al-BSF PV determine majority and minority carrier transport properties in the n+ emitter and p-type wafer silicon; from this information open circuit voltage (VOC), fill factor (FF), JSC, and power conversion efficiency (PCE) are calculated and agree well with direct current-voltage (J-V) electrical measurement. An IR-extended optical model for Al-BSF silicon PV includes coherent multiple reflections, ray tracing optics, and diffuse scattering and is applicable as a baseline for developing optical and thermal management strategies. Analysis of EQE for CdTe based solar cells with selenium alloying (CdSe1−yTey) enables determination of absorber composition after full device processing. EQE modeling for perovskite solar cells includes the ability to account for sub gap absorption measured in films but not present in the solar cell absorber and incomplete photogenerated carrier collection in the PV device.
Non-destructive, non-invasive measurement and monitoring tools, such as spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE), are
needed at all scales of thin film photovoltaic (PV) technology development - from the nanometer scale that describes the
electronic and physical structure of materials fabricated in research laboratories to the gigawatt scale that requires the
large-area uniformity of materials made in mass production. In the research laboratory, real time SE during materials
fabrication has provided insights into the structural and electronic property evolution, and dielectric functions of the thin
films. Here we will present such results for the growth of thin film PV materials of various compositions and properties,
including those used in the demanding I-III-VI2 solar cell technology. In the PV manufacturing plant, mapping SE can
be used to evaluate the uniformity of thickness and properties of the layers in full scale PV panels and even in completed
modules. Here we will present representative results for the uniformity of CdS, the window layer in CdTe PV
technology, which reached 1.4 GW annual production in 2010.
A titanium dioxide (TiO2) chiral sculptured thin film (STF) fabricated using a serial bi-deposition (SBD) method based on electron beam evaporation has been studied using spectroscopic Mueller matrix ellipsometry (MME). Complete Mueller matrices for the SBD TiO2 chiral STF have been measured using a dual-rotating compensator spectroscopic ellipsometer over the spectral range from 250 to 825 nm in transmission mode, both at normal incidence (i = 0°) and over a range of oblique angles (5° i 60°). A multilayer structurally-graded optical model has been applied to deduce spectra in the three principal indices of refraction that characterize the locally biaxial structure, using as input the complex amplitude transmission ratios deduced from the Mueller matrix measured at normal incidence. A Bragg resonance feature has been observed, and this feature blue-shifts with increasing angle of incidence. Predictions of the transmittance for circularly polarized light normally incident upon the SBD TiO2 chiral STF can be obtained simply by multiplying the unnormalized Mueller matrix by the appropriate Stokes vector, and the results are in excellent agreement with direct measurements.
Methods of spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) have been applied to investigate the growth and properties of the material
components used in the three major thin film photovoltaics technologies: (1) hydrogenated silicon (Si:H); (2) cadmium
telluride (CdTe); and (3) copper indium-gallium diselenide (CuIn1-xGaxSe2 or CIGS). In Si:H technology, real time SE
(RTSE) has been applied to establish deposition phase diagrams that describe very high frequency (vhf) plasmaenhanced
chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) processes for hydrogenated silicon (Si:H) and silicon-germanium alloy
(Si1-xGex:H) thin films. This study has reaffirmed that the highest efficiencies for a-Si:H and a-Si1-xGex:H component
solar cells of multijunction devices are obtained when the i-layers are prepared under maximal H2 dilution conditions. In
CdTe technology, the magnetron sputter deposition of polycrystalline CdTe, CdS, and CdTe1-xSx thin films as well as
the formation of CdS/CdTe and CdTe/CdS heterojunctions has been studied. The nucleation and growth behaviors of
CdTe and CdS show strong variations with deposition temperature, and this influences the ultimate grain size. The
dielectric functions ε of the CdTe1-xSx alloys have been deduced in order to set up a database for real time investigation
of inter-diffusion at the CdS/CdTe and CdTe/CdS interfaces. In CIGS technology, strong variations in ε of the Mo back
contact during sputter deposition have been observed, and these results have been understood applying a Drude
relaxation time that varies with the Mo film thickness. Ex-situ SE measurements of a novel In2S3 window layer have
shown critical point structures at 2.77±0.08 eV, 4.92±0.005 eV, and 5.64±0.005 eV, as well as an absorption tail with an
onset near 1.9 eV. Simulations of solar cell performance comparing In2S3 and the conventional CdS have revealed
similar quantum efficiencies, suggesting the possibility of a Cd-free window layer in CIGS technology.
Conference Committee Involvement (2)
Photovoltaic Cell and Module Technologies II
10 August 2008 | San Diego, California, United States
Photovoltaic Cell and Module Technologies
27 August 2007 | San Diego, California, United States
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