Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Samplepreparation
The use of a monolithic structure is one of the methods for making tandem cell
systems. In our case such a structure has been obtained by successive epitaxial growth
of ZnTe and CdSe layers onto ZnSe single-crystal substrates oriented in the [1 1 0]
direction. These substrates were cleaved directly before the deposition of ZnTe layers.
It was used an epitaxial method employing a transport reaction and resublimation in
an open system in reduction atmosphere. The remaining gas pressure was
2 x 10- 5 Torr. Polycrystalline CdSe and ZnTe were used as evaporation material. The
Table 1
The summary of heterojunction preparation conditions and the electrical parameters of ZnTe and CdSe
layers
h~
1
2.67
Z~e l
ZnTe I
2 3
a) b)
Fig. 1. n-ZnSe/p-ZnTe/n-CdSe tandem structure: (a) schematic diagram; (b) energy diagram.
P. Gashin et al./Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 46 (1997) 323 331 325
epitaxy of CdSe layers was accomplished in a short time after the recharge of the
reactor with the evaporating materials. The doping of ZnTe with As and of CdSe with
In was carried out during their growth. The impurity atoms move to the mixture zone
due to the concentration gradient. Then they were transported in the form of atomic
flux to the deposition zone.
The thicknesses of ZnTe and CdSe layers were 6-12 and 4-10 gm, respectively. The
ZnSe single-crystal substrates with the thickness of 200-250 gm were previously
annealed in liquid Zn and the electron concentration was (1-5)x 1017 cm 3 with
a mobility of 470-500 cmZ/V s. The preparation conditions and the electrical para-
meters of ZnTe and CdSe layers are given in Table 1. The tandem solar cells obtained
in this way have a planar n - p - n structure (Fig. 1). Au and In were deposited by
vacuum evaporation to make ohmic contacts for ZnTe and CdSe, respectively. The In
contacts for ZnSe were alloyed at 400°C, and their contact area did not exceed
1-3 mm 2 which make ~> 10% of the whole substrate surface. This contact system
allowed us to connect the whole structure in series (contacts 1-3) as well as each cell to
a separate load (contacts 1 2 or 2-3).
3. Results
Fig. 2. (a) Microphotography of n-ZnSe/p-ZnTe/n-CdSe tandem structure interface. (b) The distribution
of Zn and Cd atom concentration of cleaved surface of the tandem structure n-ZnSe/p-ZnTe/n-CdSe
combined with the electron-beam-induced current signal.
P. Gashin et al./Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 46 (1997) 323 331 327
also. The direction of the current for each junction is opposite due to the n p-n
structure of the cell. One can see that the position of maximum values of the induced
current coincides with the heterojunctions interfaces.
The minority carrier diffusion length L was determined from the dependence of the
electron-beam-induced current on the coordinate. It was obtained that for ZnTe
epitaxial layers L, = 0.57~0.81 ~tm, for CdSe epitaxial layers L p = 0.62 0.71 Bm and
for ZnSe crystals Lp -- 0.78 0.85 [am.
where A is the diode factor. The pre-exponential current (Io) varies rapidly with
temperature according to
Table 2
The electric parameters of the ZnSe/ZnTe/CdSe tandem structure
Note: Wd(0), zero bias junction width; VD,diffusion potential, A is measured at 300 K; m is measured in the
interval 1 10V.
100
#
~, ).(~')
v
a)
4o
2o
I I i I I
0.5 0.6
).(~,)
0.7 0.8 0.9
Fig. 3. The spectral photosensitivity distribution of n-ZnSe/p-ZnTe/n-CdSe tandem structure: (a) ZnSe/
ZnTe heterojunction; (b) ZnTe/CdSe heterojunction; (c) nZnSe/pZnTe/nCdSe tandem structure connected
in series.
structure covers the region of spectrum from 0.47 to 0.86 ~tm. In the case of junction
connection in series (contacts 1-3) the signal polarity change in the spectral distribu-
tion is observed due to the fact that the Z n S e / Z n T e and Z n T e / C d S e junctions
generated p h o t o v o l t a g e of opposite sign (Fig. 3c). This is also observed distinctly in
the oscillogram of the electron- beam-induced current (Fig. 2b). This effect m a y be
used for the fabrication of optical pyrometers [6].
As usual, the short-circuit current Isc in both junctions increases proportionally to
the light intensity and the open circuit voltage Voc tends to saturation in conformity
with the expression
Vo~AkTlnIIr ] (3)
- e Too + 1 '
P. Gashin et al./Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 46 (1997) 323 331 329
12 b)
I
¢;
a)
4
i I
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 V
Fig. 4. The load characteristics of n-ZnSe/p-ZnTe/n-CdSe tandem structure at 300 K and illumination
80 mW/cm2: (a) ZnSe/ZnTe; (b) ZnTe/CdSe.
25
23
v
21
19 I I I I I I I I
.6 2.0 ~.4 2.8 3.2
Eg 1 (eV)
Fig. 5. The calculated dependence of the efficiency of a two-component tandem structure on the band gap
of the top cell at constant Eg of the lower material.
Table 3
The photoelectric parameters of the ZnSe/ZnTe/CdSe tandem structure (at AMI.5 illumination and
T = 300 K)r003n
2.4-2.6 eV, which is in accordance with Eg for ZnSe (2.67 eV) and ZnTe (2.26 eV). The
calculated value of the efficiencies are 24.8% for the ZnSe-ZnTe-CdSe tandem
structure, 19% for ZnTe-CdSe heterojunction and 12% for the ZnSe-ZnTe hetero-
junction. The obtained efficiency values are the theoretical limits, at the calculations of
which the losses on series and leakage resistances of p-n junction were not taken into
account, as well as losses due to reflection from the surface and its shadowing by the
contacts. The photoelectrical parameters determined for each heterojunction and the
tandem structure in the whole are summarized in Table 3.
The data obtained by means of contacts 1-2 and 2-3 (see Fig. la) for each
heterojunction as a component of the tandem structure are given in Table 3 in the
column "tandem". The results for ZnSe/ZnTe and ZnTe/CdSe heterojunctions fab-
ricated independent from one another are presented in the column "separate". The
tandem summary efficiency and open-circuit voltage were calculated by addition of
respective data measured in two separate circuits (contacts 1-2 and 2-3).
4. Conclusions
It must be noted that these results are obtained for unoptimised structures without
antireflection coatings and can be improved by reducing both current and voltage
losses, and by the appropriate choice of component heterojunction thickness and
doping level. The observed signal polarity change in the spectral distribution of the
photosensitivity of the ZnSe-ZnTe-CdSe tandem structure may be used for the
fabrication of optical pyrometers.
The efficiency of the investigated tandem structure at AM1.5 conditions is 10.8%
while the calculated efficiency for n-ZnSe/p-ZnTe/n-CdSe tandem structure is 24.8%.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Dr. P. Ketrush for useful discussions of results and
fruitful collaboration.
P. Gashin et al./Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 46 (1997) 323 331 33t
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