Mechanisms for Long Carrier Lifetime in Cd(Se)Te Double Heterostructures

Mahisha Amarasinghe; David Albin; Darius Kuciauskas; John Moseley; Craig Perkins; Wyatt Metzger

doi:10.1063/5.0047976

Mechanisms for Long Carrier Lifetime in Cd(Se)Te Double Heterostructures

Mahisha Amarasinghe, David Albin, Darius Kuciauskas, John Moseley, Craig Perkins, Wyatt Metzger

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

15 Scopus Citations

Abstract

II-VI semiconductors are used in numerous electro-optical applications. For example, CdTe-based solar technology is cost competitive with other electricity generation sources, yet there is still significant room to improve. Carrier lifetime has historically been well below the radiative recombination limit. Lifetimes reaching beyond 100 ns can significantly enhance performance and enable novel device structures. Here, double heterostructures (DHs) with passivated interfaces demonstrate lifetimes exceeding 1 μs, yet this appears only for CdSeTe and not for CdTe DHs. We compare the passivation mechanisms in CdTe and CdSeTe DHs. CdSeTe lifetimes on the order of 1 μs correspond to a combination of superior intragrain lifetime, extremely low grain boundary recombination and greater Te4+ interfacial presence compared to CdTe.

Original language	American English
Article number	Article No. 211102
Number of pages	5
Journal	Applied Physics Letters
Volume	118
Issue number	21
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0047976 https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0047976
State	Published - 24 May 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Author(s).

NREL Publication Number

NREL/JA-5K00-78809

Keywords

cathodoluminescence
CdTe solar cells
double heterostructures
thin film photovoltaics
TRPL
XPS

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abstract = "II-VI semiconductors are used in numerous electro-optical applications. For example, CdTe-based solar technology is cost competitive with other electricity generation sources, yet there is still significant room to improve. Carrier lifetime has historically been well below the radiative recombination limit. Lifetimes reaching beyond 100 ns can significantly enhance performance and enable novel device structures. Here, double heterostructures (DHs) with passivated interfaces demonstrate lifetimes exceeding 1 μs, yet this appears only for CdSeTe and not for CdTe DHs. We compare the passivation mechanisms in CdTe and CdSeTe DHs. CdSeTe lifetimes on the order of 1 μs correspond to a combination of superior intragrain lifetime, extremely low grain boundary recombination and greater Te4+ interfacial presence compared to CdTe.",

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AU - Perkins, Craig

AU - Metzger, Wyatt

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Mechanisms for Long Carrier Lifetime in Cd(Se)Te Double Heterostructures

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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Keywords

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