Surface Passivation of CdTe Single Crystals

Matthew Reese, Craig Perkins, Steven Johnston, Darius Kuciauskas, Teresa Barnes, Wyatt Metzger, James Burst, Ana Kanevce

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Scopus Citations

Abstract

Low open-circuit voltages (850-870 mV), due to excessive bulk and surface recombination, currently limit CdTe photovoltaic efficiencies. Here, we study surface recombination in single crystals with single-photon excitation time-resolved photoluminescence (1PE-TRPL) to measure minority carrier lifetimes. Typically, minority carrier lifetimes of untreated undoped CdTe material as measured by 1PE-TRPL are ∼100 ps or less, even though their bulk lifetimes as measured by two-photon excitation TRPL can reach 100 ns. Such short 1PE-TRPL lifetimes indicate very high surface recombination velocities exceeding 100 000 cm/s. Here, we examine treatments that can reduce surface recombination and discuss different ways of evaluating their efficacy.

Original languageAmerican English
Article number6945796
Pages (from-to)382-385
Number of pages4
JournalIEEE Journal of Photovoltaics
Volume5
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2015

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2011-2012 IEEE.

NREL Publication Number

  • NREL/JA-5K00-62433

Keywords

  • Cadmium compounds
  • charge carrier lifetime
  • photoluminescence
  • photovoltaic cells

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