Process Development for High Voc CdTe Solar Cells: Phase I, Annual Technical Report, October 2005 - September 2006

Ferekides, C. S. ; Morel, D. L.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (U.S.)

关键词: Pv;    Conversion Efficiency;    Solar Cells;    36 Materials Science;    Organic Compounds;   

DOI  :  10.2172/903078
RP-ID  :  NREL/SR-520-41525
RP-ID  :  AC36-99-GO10337
RP-ID  :  903078

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

The focus of this project is the open-circuit voltage of the CdTe thin-film solar cell. CdTe continues to be one of the leading materials for large-scale cost-effective production of photovoltaics, but the efficiency of the CdTe solar cell has been stagnant for the last few years. At the manufacturing front, the CdTe technology is fast paced and moving forward with U.S.-based First Solar LLC leading the world in CdTe module production. To support the industry efforts and continue the advancement of this technology, it will be necessary to continue improvements in solar cell efficiency. A closer look at the state-of-the-art performance levels puts the three solar cell efficiency parameters of short-circuit current density (JSC), open-circuit voltage (VOC), and fill factor (FF) in the 24-26 mA/cm2, 844?850 mV, and 74%-76% ranges respectively. During the late 1090s, efforts to improve cell efficiency were primarily concerned with increasing JSC, simply by using thinner CdS window layers to enhance the blue response (<510 nm) of the CdTe cell. These efforts led to underscoring the important role 'buffers' (or high-resistivity transparent films) play in CdTe cells. The use of transparent bi-layers (low-p/high-p) as the front contact is becoming a 'standard' feature of the CdTe cell.