Thin film solar cell with 8.

4% power
conversion
efficiency using an Earth-abundant
Cu2ZnSnS4(CZTS(Copper Zinc Tin Sulfide))
absorber
Created By : Supriadi Sirait
Gottlieb Fyeter Sitohang

OVERVIEW

WHO

WHAT

WHY

HOW

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Who?
Yu Zhu
Materials Physics, Materials Science, Solid State Physics
Supratik Guha
Condensed Matter Physics, Materials Science, Solid State Physics
Byungha Shin ,PhD
Oki Gunawan ,PhD
Condensed Matter Physics, Materials Science, Solid State Physics
Nestor A. Bojarczuk
S. Jay Chey
IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598, USA

What ?

In this paper they discuss about compound CZTS (band gap =

1.451.5 eV) as a potential candidate for a light absorbing layer in
thin film solar cell devices to replace conventional absorber layers
such as CdTe and Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS).

CZTS is a semiconductor with a drect band gap of about 1.45-1.5

eV and an absorption coefficient of 10^4 Cm^-1.

Why?

Cause that very thin CZTS absorber layers (600nm) can be deposited
using a150C vacuum thermal evaporation process and subsequent
short (5min) high-temperature (570C) atmospheric pressure anneal
and report a solar cell efficiency of 8.4%. These measurements have
been independently confirmed and certified by an external,
accredited laboratoryThe Newport Technology and Applications
Centers Photovoltaic (TAC-PV) Lab. These are the highest efficiencies
reported for the pure sulfide CZTS absorber using any technique.

How?
Cu2ZnSnS4 films were grown on Mo-coated soda lime glass substrates by thermal
evaporation in a vacuum system equipped with Knudsen-type sources of elemental
Cu, Zn, and Sn.

The substrate temperature during growth was

kept relatively low (~150C) to

minimize the possibility of forming secondary phases at the CZTS/Mo interface due
to high volatility of SnS .

After evaporation, a short (5 min) atmospheric

pressure anneal was performed at

570C using a process described earlier. The rest of the device structure consists of
90100-nm-thick CdS by chemical bath deposition, ~80 nm intrinsic ZnO, ~450 nm

How ?(Cont)
Transmission electron microscopy

(TEM) samples were prepared using an FEI HELIOS 4000

DualBeam (FEI, Hillsboro, OR, USA) focused ion beam, with the thinned specimen lifted off and
placed on a carbon supporting film. A JEOL 3000F (JEOL Ltd, Tokyo, Japan) machine operating at 300
kV was used for the TEM analysis.

Currentvoltage (IV) measurements

were performed under simulated AM 1.5 Global spectrum and

100 mW/cm2 (1 sun) illumination by ourselves as well as by the external, accredited laboratory at
Newport Inc., as described earlier.

The lifetime of photo-generated carriers

was measured on fully processed cells by time-resolved

photoluminescence (TR-PL) using a Hamamatsu single photon counting system utilizing a 532-nm
solid-state laser with the pulse width less than 1 ns and the repetition rate of 15 kHz. The average
power density of the excitation laser in TR-PL is ~15 mW/cm2 (0.15 sun).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

(a) Bright field TEM image of 8.4% (CZTS) solar cell, illustrating
bimodal distribution of grain structure of CZTS

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

(Cont)

(b) Dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy

image of 8.4% CZTS solar cell.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION (Cont)

(c) Elemental profiles determined by EDX scan [the red arrow in

Figure (b)], which demonstrates the presence of ZnS near the
CZTS/MoSx interface.

Thank you