posted on 2017-11-17, 14:50authored byDaniele Menossi, Elisa Artegiani, Francesco Bittau, JW M. Barbato, M. Meneghini, G. Meneghesso, Jake BowersJake Bowers, Michael WallsMichael Walls, F. Piccinelli, Alessandro Romeo
CdTe solar cells have shown high efficiency and the technology is scalable. As a result thin film CdTe modules are competitive with crystalline silicon modules. Thin film CdTe devices with efficiency above 22% have been reported using high substrate temperatures during the
deposition process. It is known that high substrate temperatures result in large grain size with a reduced number of grain boundaries and this is believed to contribute to the high efficiency. However, use of high temperature requires robust substrates and excludes the use of most flexible substrate materials. It also involves higher energy consumption and more complicated machinery. In this work we present a process for high efficiency solar cells with an improved front contact, by introducing
magnesium-doped zinc oxide high resistance transparent layer. By optimizing the fabrication process we have achieved a conversion efficiency exceeding 16%, which is one of the highest reported for substrate temperatures
below 500°C.
Funding
This work has been supported by Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Trento e Rovereto with the TIN-Jet project.
History
School
Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering
Published in
33rd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition
Citation
MENOSSI, D. ...et al., 2017. High efficiency CdTe solar cells by low temperature deposition with MgZnO HRT layer. Presented at the 33rd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (PVSEC 2017), Amsterdam, 25-29th. September, pp. 1027-1030.
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