Blocking thin-film nonuniformities: Photovoltaic self-healing
- 26 January 2004
- journal article
- research article
- Published by AIP Publishing in Applied Physics Letters
- Vol. 84 (4) , 616-618
- https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1644049
Abstract
An approach is developed to block the effects of lateral nonuniformities in thin-film semiconductor structures. The nonuniformity modulates the surface photovoltage distribution. When exposed to light and immersed in a proper electrolyte, this distribution will generate laterally nonuniform electrochemical reactions. Such treatments result in a nonuniform interfacial layer that balances the original nonuniformity. This approach has been implemented for CdTe/CdS photovoltaic devices, in which it improved the device efficiency from 1%–3% to 11%–12%.Keywords
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