Current Applied Physics

Korean Physical Society (한국물리학회)
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Photovoltaic performance of flexible $Cu(In,Ga)Se_2$ thin-film solar cells with varying Cr impurity barrier thickness

  • Cho, Dae-Hyung (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI)) ;
  • Chung, Yong-Duck (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI)) ;
  • Lee, Kyu-Seok (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI)) ;
  • Kim, Kyung-Hyun (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI)) ;
  • Kim, Ju-Hee (Korea Electronics Technology Institute (KETI)) ;
  • Park, Soo-Jeong (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI)) ;
  • Kim, Jeha (Research Institute of Photovoltaics, Cheongju University)
  • Received : 2012.07.04
  • Accepted : 2013.09.04
  • Published : 2013.11.30
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Abstract

We report the effect of Cr impurity barrier on $Cu(In,Ga)Se_2$ thin-film solar cells prepared on flexible substrates. The Cr films with varying the thickness ($t_{Cr}$) were deposited on stainless steel substrates using direct-current magnetron sputtering. The solar cell performance was improved by increasing $t_{Cr}$ since the diffusion of Fe impurities from the substrate to CIGS was suppressed. Although the elemental composition, grain size, and strain of CIGS film showed little change with varying Fe content, the fill factor and the short-circuit current density increased as decreasing Fe. The Fe increased the series resistance, shunt paths, and saturation current density. The reduction of Fe caused a steeper bandgap grading in CIGS which enhances current collection due to higher electric fields in bulk CIGS. CIGS solar cells with 1000 nm-thick Cr barrier showed the best conversion efficiency of 9.05%.

Keywords

References

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