| Thin-film solar cells based on CuInSe2 (CIS) absorber with a band gap of Eg = 1.0 eV and also based on CuIn1-x GaxSe2 (CIGS) alloy absorbers with a band-gap range of Eg = 1.0--1.67 eV are investigated in this work. Intermediate "buffer" semiconductor layers in p-n junctions of CIGS solar cells often improve photodiode properties of the devices. The primary goal of the thesis is to study secondary barriers in the conduction band at the buffer/absorber interface, which may limit current transport and thus reduce the efficiency of the solar cells. The secondary goal is to explore alternative wide-bandgap buffers in CIGS cell structures. CIGS cells with standard CdS buffer layers, and alternative ZnS(O,OH) and InS(O,OH) buffer layers were studied.; CdS/CuIn1-xGaxSe2 solar cells with variable Ga content have a range of conduction-band offsets (DeltaEc) in the junction from moderately positive (spike offsets) in CdS/CuInSe2 to moderately negative (cliff offsets) in CdS/CuGaSe 2. Moderate conduction-band spikes in CdS/CIS and low-Ga CdS/CIGS are expected to cause distortions in diode current-voltage (J-V) curves of such solar cells under "red" illumination (hnu < Eg(buffer)); no J-V distortions are expected for high-Ga CdS/CIGS with cliff offsets. These predictions were confirmed in experiments: the distortions were absent for cells with Eg above 1.2--1.3 eV, at which CdS/CIGS DeltaE c is near zero. Experiments and numerical simulations showed that one approach to reduce secondary barriers and J-V distortions in low-Ga high-spike cells is to thin the buffer layer(s).; Blue photons (hnu above Eg(buffer)) in the solar spectrum induce photoconductivity in the otherwise compensated buffers, which also results in lowering of the secondary barriers. It was shown that CIGS cells with CdS, InS(O,OH), and ZnS(O,OH) buffers have a similar response to "blue" photons: J-V distortion, if present under red light, is reduced or entirely disappears with blue-light exposure within minutes. The distortion re-appearance without blue light is the order of a thousand times slower.; Using wider-gap buffers, such as InS(O,OH) and ZnS(O,OH), was shown to produce higher photocurrents in solar cells. This photocurrent improvement is a central direction in the effort of further increasing efficiencies of thin-film solar cells. |
