Performance Comparison of CdTe:Na, CdTe:As, and CdTe:P Single Crystals for Solar Cell Applications

Sangsu Kim; Deok Kim; Jinki Hong; Abdallah Elmughrabi; Alima Melis; Jung Yeol Yeom; Chansun Park; Shinhaeng Cho

doi:10.3390/ma15041408

Performance Comparison of CdTe:Na, CdTe:As, and CdTe:P Single Crystals for Solar Cell Applications

Sangsu Kim, Deok Kim, Jinki Hong, Abdallah Elmughrabi, Alima Melis, Jung Yeol Yeom, Chansun Park, Shinhaeng Cho

School of Biomedical Engineering

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

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We compared thermal stability, open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current, and fill factor values of single-crystal Cadmium telluride (CdTe) grown using the vertical Bridgman (VB) technique and doped with group V elements (phosphorus and arsenic), and group I element (sodium), followed by an annealing process. The sodium-doped CdTe maintained a hole density of 10¹⁶ cm⁻³ or higher; after annealing for a long time, this decreased to 10¹⁵ cm⁻³ or less. The arsenic-doped CdTe maintained a hole density of approximately 10¹⁶ cm⁻³ even after the annealing process; however its bulk minority carrier lifetime decreased by approximately 10%. The phosphorus-doped CdTe maintained its properties after the annealing process, ultimately achieving a hole density of ~10¹⁶ cm⁻³ and a minority carrier lifetime of ~40 ns. The characteristics of a single-crystal solar cell were evaluated using a solar cell device that contained single-crystal CdTe with various dopants. The sodium-doped sample exhibited poor interfacial properties, and its performance decreased rapidly during annealing. The samples doped with group V elements exhibited stable characteristics even during long-term annealing. We concluded, therefore, that group V elements dopants are more suitable for CdTe single-crystal-based solar cell applications involving thermal stress conditions, such as space missions or extreme fabrication temperature environments.

Original language	English
Article number	1408
Journal	Materials
Volume	15
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15041408
Publication status	Published - 2022 Feb 1

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Funding: This research was funded by a National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant from the Korean Government (MSIT) (NRF-2020R1C1C1007296, NRF-2020R1I1A1A01070761) and a Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) grant from the Korean Government (MOTIE) (20214000000070, Promoting of Expert for Energy Industry Advancement in the Field of Radiation Technology).

Funding Information:
Acknowledgments: This work was supported by a National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean government (MSIT) (NRF-2020R1C1C1007296, NRF-2020R1I1A1A01070761) and by a Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) grant funded by the Korean government (MOTIE) (20214000000070, Promoting of Expert for Energy Industry Advancement in the Field of Radiation Technology).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Keywords

CdS/CdTe
Crystal growth
Single crystal
Solar cell
Thermal stability
Vertical Bridgman technique

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Materials Science
Condensed Matter Physics

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10.3390/ma15041408

Cite this

@article{f65c78d343e345888c9c60a1fc6167ea,

title = "Performance Comparison of CdTe:Na, CdTe:As, and CdTe:P Single Crystals for Solar Cell Applications",

abstract = "We compared thermal stability, open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current, and fill factor values of single-crystal Cadmium telluride (CdTe) grown using the vertical Bridgman (VB) technique and doped with group V elements (phosphorus and arsenic), and group I element (sodium), followed by an annealing process. The sodium-doped CdTe maintained a hole density of 1016 cm−3 or higher; after annealing for a long time, this decreased to 1015 cm−3 or less. The arsenic-doped CdTe maintained a hole density of approximately 1016 cm−3 even after the annealing process; however its bulk minority carrier lifetime decreased by approximately 10%. The phosphorus-doped CdTe maintained its properties after the annealing process, ultimately achieving a hole density of ~1016 cm−3 and a minority carrier lifetime of ~40 ns. The characteristics of a single-crystal solar cell were evaluated using a solar cell device that contained single-crystal CdTe with various dopants. The sodium-doped sample exhibited poor interfacial properties, and its performance decreased rapidly during annealing. The samples doped with group V elements exhibited stable characteristics even during long-term annealing. We concluded, therefore, that group V elements dopants are more suitable for CdTe single-crystal-based solar cell applications involving thermal stress conditions, such as space missions or extreme fabrication temperature environments.",

keywords = "CdS/CdTe, Crystal growth, Single crystal, Solar cell, Thermal stability, Vertical Bridgman technique",

author = "Sangsu Kim and Deok Kim and Jinki Hong and Abdallah Elmughrabi and Alima Melis and Yeom, {Jung Yeol} and Chansun Park and Shinhaeng Cho",

note = "Funding Information: Funding: This research was funded by a National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant from the Korean Government (MSIT) (NRF-2020R1C1C1007296, NRF-2020R1I1A1A01070761) and a Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) grant from the Korean Government (MOTIE) (20214000000070, Promoting of Expert for Energy Industry Advancement in the Field of Radiation Technology). Funding Information: Acknowledgments: This work was supported by a National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean government (MSIT) (NRF-2020R1C1C1007296, NRF-2020R1I1A1A01070761) and by a Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) grant funded by the Korean government (MOTIE) (20214000000070, Promoting of Expert for Energy Industry Advancement in the Field of Radiation Technology). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.",

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doi = "10.3390/ma15041408",

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T1 - Performance Comparison of CdTe:Na, CdTe:As, and CdTe:P Single Crystals for Solar Cell Applications

AU - Kim, Sangsu

AU - Kim, Deok

AU - Hong, Jinki

AU - Elmughrabi, Abdallah

AU - Melis, Alima

AU - Yeom, Jung Yeol

AU - Park, Chansun

AU - Cho, Shinhaeng

N1 - Funding Information: Funding: This research was funded by a National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant from the Korean Government (MSIT) (NRF-2020R1C1C1007296, NRF-2020R1I1A1A01070761) and a Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) grant from the Korean Government (MOTIE) (20214000000070, Promoting of Expert for Energy Industry Advancement in the Field of Radiation Technology). Funding Information: Acknowledgments: This work was supported by a National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean government (MSIT) (NRF-2020R1C1C1007296, NRF-2020R1I1A1A01070761) and by a Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) grant funded by the Korean government (MOTIE) (20214000000070, Promoting of Expert for Energy Industry Advancement in the Field of Radiation Technology). Publisher Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

PY - 2022/2/1

Y1 - 2022/2/1

N2 - We compared thermal stability, open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current, and fill factor values of single-crystal Cadmium telluride (CdTe) grown using the vertical Bridgman (VB) technique and doped with group V elements (phosphorus and arsenic), and group I element (sodium), followed by an annealing process. The sodium-doped CdTe maintained a hole density of 1016 cm−3 or higher; after annealing for a long time, this decreased to 1015 cm−3 or less. The arsenic-doped CdTe maintained a hole density of approximately 1016 cm−3 even after the annealing process; however its bulk minority carrier lifetime decreased by approximately 10%. The phosphorus-doped CdTe maintained its properties after the annealing process, ultimately achieving a hole density of ~1016 cm−3 and a minority carrier lifetime of ~40 ns. The characteristics of a single-crystal solar cell were evaluated using a solar cell device that contained single-crystal CdTe with various dopants. The sodium-doped sample exhibited poor interfacial properties, and its performance decreased rapidly during annealing. The samples doped with group V elements exhibited stable characteristics even during long-term annealing. We concluded, therefore, that group V elements dopants are more suitable for CdTe single-crystal-based solar cell applications involving thermal stress conditions, such as space missions or extreme fabrication temperature environments.

AB - We compared thermal stability, open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current, and fill factor values of single-crystal Cadmium telluride (CdTe) grown using the vertical Bridgman (VB) technique and doped with group V elements (phosphorus and arsenic), and group I element (sodium), followed by an annealing process. The sodium-doped CdTe maintained a hole density of 1016 cm−3 or higher; after annealing for a long time, this decreased to 1015 cm−3 or less. The arsenic-doped CdTe maintained a hole density of approximately 1016 cm−3 even after the annealing process; however its bulk minority carrier lifetime decreased by approximately 10%. The phosphorus-doped CdTe maintained its properties after the annealing process, ultimately achieving a hole density of ~1016 cm−3 and a minority carrier lifetime of ~40 ns. The characteristics of a single-crystal solar cell were evaluated using a solar cell device that contained single-crystal CdTe with various dopants. The sodium-doped sample exhibited poor interfacial properties, and its performance decreased rapidly during annealing. The samples doped with group V elements exhibited stable characteristics even during long-term annealing. We concluded, therefore, that group V elements dopants are more suitable for CdTe single-crystal-based solar cell applications involving thermal stress conditions, such as space missions or extreme fabrication temperature environments.

KW - CdS/CdTe

KW - Crystal growth

KW - Single crystal

KW - Solar cell

KW - Thermal stability

KW - Vertical Bridgman technique

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U2 - 10.3390/ma15041408

DO - 10.3390/ma15041408

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85124804134

SN - 1996-1944

VL - 15

JO - Materials

JF - Materials

IS - 4

M1 - 1408

ER -

Performance Comparison of CdTe:Na, CdTe:As, and CdTe:P Single Crystals for Solar Cell Applications

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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