Polycrystalline heterojunction solar cells: A device perspective

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Abstract
Analysis of high efficiency, thin film, small grain, polycrystalline, heterojunction CdTe and CuInSe2based solar cells can help explain the high quantum efficiencies and the resulting short circuit current (Jsc) as well as the forward diode current that controls the open circuit voltage (Voc). This analysis shows that minority carrier recombination at the metallurgical interface and at grain boundaries is greatly reduced by the proper “doping” of the window and absorber layers thereby increasing Jsc. Additional analysis and measurements show that the Voc in present state of the art solar cells is controlled by the magnitude of the forward diode current which appears to be caused by recombination in the space charge region of the absorber layer. This also shows that any quantitative modeling of these devices which relates the device performance to the bulk electronic properties of the material should consider the additional geometric dimension introduced by the polycrystallinity because of grain boundary effects.

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