Session D1: Plenary Session II
9:00 AM–12:22 PM, Saturday, May 19, 2007
PSUB Room: Salmon River Room
Chair: E.M Henley, University of Washington
Abstract ID: BAPS.2007.NWS07.D1.4
Abstract: D1.00004 : Good defect, bad defect: electronic properties of CuGaSe$_{2}$ solar cells
10:34 AM–11:10 AM
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Abstract 
Author:
Jennifer Heath
(Linfield College)
The Cu(In,Ga)Se$_{2}$ (CIGS) alloys are promising materials for the absorber layer in solar cell devices. Single junction devices using CIGS absorbers have achieved 19.5{\%} efficiencies. This is remarkable for a device with a thin film, non-crystalline absorber, and for this reason the CIGS electronic properties and especially the nature of defects and grain boundaries are of interest. In this talk, I will discuss several types of electronic defects in CIGS films: those that are beneficial---including defects that allow the material to be intrinsically doped; those that are neutral---apparently grain boundaries fall in this category; and those that may act negatively as traps and recombination centers, limiting device efficiencies. The higher Ga alloys have larger bandgaps, necessary for a multilayer tandem solar cell device. However, solar cells made from higher bandgap CIGS tend to perform more poorly than expected from studies of their low bandgap counterparts. We have studied a series of CuGaSe$_{2}$ solar cell devices, using techniques based on the measurement of capacitance including admittance spectroscopy and drive-level capacitance profiling, as well as current-voltage measurements as a function of temperature and illumination intensity. These studies allow us to better understand the limitations to device performance, and the population of sub-bandgap traps that are present in the CGS film. Our studies suggest that the p-n interface is particularly problematic in these devices.
To cite this abstract, use the following reference: http://meetings.aps.org/link/BAPS.2007.NWS07.D1.4