The Impact of Sodium Contamination in Tin Sulfide Thin-Film Solar Cells

Matthew Young; Vera Steinmann; Riley Brandt; Rupak Chakraborty; R. Jaramillo; Benjamin Ofori-Okai; Chuanxi Yang; Alex Polizzotti; Keith Nelson; Roy Gordon; Tonio Buonassisi

doi:10.1063/1.4941713

The Impact of Sodium Contamination in Tin Sulfide Thin-Film Solar Cells

Matthew Young
, Vera Steinmann
, Riley Brandt
, Rupak Chakraborty
, R. Jaramillo
, Benjamin Ofori-Okai
, Chuanxi Yang
, Alex Polizzotti
, Keith Nelson
, Roy Gordon
, Tonio Buonassisi

Materials Science

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

24 Scopus Citations

Abstract

Through empirical observations, sodium (Na) has been identified as a benign contaminant in some thin-film solar cells. Here, we intentionally contaminate thermally evaporated tin sulfide (SnS) thin-films with sodium and measure the SnS absorber properties and solar cell characteristics. The carrier concentration increases from 2 × 10¹⁶ cm^-3 to 4.3 × 10¹⁷ cm^-3 in Na-doped SnS thin-films, when using a 13 nm NaCl seed layer, which is detrimental for SnS photovoltaic applications but could make Na-doped SnS an attractive candidate in thermoelectrics. The observed trend in carrier concentration is in good agreement with density functional theory calculations, which predict an acceptor-type Na_Sn defect with low formation energy.

Original language	American English
Article number	Article No. 026103
Number of pages	7
Journal	APL Materials
Volume	4
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4941713 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4941713
State	Published - 1 Feb 2016

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Author(s).

NLR Publication Number

NREL/JA-5K00-66084

Keywords

carrier density
II-VI semiconductors
secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS)
sodium
solar cells

Access to Document

Cite this

@article{6f10985f007f4931892656c525af94f5,

title = "The Impact of Sodium Contamination in Tin Sulfide Thin-Film Solar Cells",

abstract = "Through empirical observations, sodium (Na) has been identified as a benign contaminant in some thin-film solar cells. Here, we intentionally contaminate thermally evaporated tin sulfide (SnS) thin-films with sodium and measure the SnS absorber properties and solar cell characteristics. The carrier concentration increases from 2 × 1016 cm-3 to 4.3 × 1017 cm-3 in Na-doped SnS thin-films, when using a 13 nm NaCl seed layer, which is detrimental for SnS photovoltaic applications but could make Na-doped SnS an attractive candidate in thermoelectrics. The observed trend in carrier concentration is in good agreement with density functional theory calculations, which predict an acceptor-type NaSn defect with low formation energy.",

keywords = "carrier density, II-VI semiconductors, secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), sodium, solar cells",

author = "Matthew Young and Vera Steinmann and Riley Brandt and Rupak Chakraborty and R. Jaramillo and Benjamin Ofori-Okai and Chuanxi Yang and Alex Polizzotti and Keith Nelson and Roy Gordon and Tonio Buonassisi",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2016 Author(s).",

year = "2016",

month = feb,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1063/1.4941713",

language = "American English",

volume = "4",

journal = "APL Materials",

issn = "2166-532X",

publisher = "American Institute of Physics",

number = "2",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Impact of Sodium Contamination in Tin Sulfide Thin-Film Solar Cells

AU - Young, Matthew

AU - Steinmann, Vera

AU - Brandt, Riley

AU - Chakraborty, Rupak

AU - Jaramillo, R.

AU - Ofori-Okai, Benjamin

AU - Yang, Chuanxi

AU - Polizzotti, Alex

AU - Nelson, Keith

AU - Gordon, Roy

AU - Buonassisi, Tonio

PY - 2016/2/1

Y1 - 2016/2/1

N2 - Through empirical observations, sodium (Na) has been identified as a benign contaminant in some thin-film solar cells. Here, we intentionally contaminate thermally evaporated tin sulfide (SnS) thin-films with sodium and measure the SnS absorber properties and solar cell characteristics. The carrier concentration increases from 2 × 1016 cm-3 to 4.3 × 1017 cm-3 in Na-doped SnS thin-films, when using a 13 nm NaCl seed layer, which is detrimental for SnS photovoltaic applications but could make Na-doped SnS an attractive candidate in thermoelectrics. The observed trend in carrier concentration is in good agreement with density functional theory calculations, which predict an acceptor-type NaSn defect with low formation energy.

AB - Through empirical observations, sodium (Na) has been identified as a benign contaminant in some thin-film solar cells. Here, we intentionally contaminate thermally evaporated tin sulfide (SnS) thin-films with sodium and measure the SnS absorber properties and solar cell characteristics. The carrier concentration increases from 2 × 1016 cm-3 to 4.3 × 1017 cm-3 in Na-doped SnS thin-films, when using a 13 nm NaCl seed layer, which is detrimental for SnS photovoltaic applications but could make Na-doped SnS an attractive candidate in thermoelectrics. The observed trend in carrier concentration is in good agreement with density functional theory calculations, which predict an acceptor-type NaSn defect with low formation energy.

KW - carrier density

KW - II-VI semiconductors

KW - secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS)

KW - sodium

KW - solar cells

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84958576526

U2 - 10.1063/1.4941713

DO - 10.1063/1.4941713

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84958576526

SN - 2166-532X

VL - 4

JO - APL Materials

JF - APL Materials

IS - 2

M1 - Article No. 026103

ER -

The Impact of Sodium Contamination in Tin Sulfide Thin-Film Solar Cells

Abstract

Bibliographical note

NLR Publication Number

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this