Advanced Materials Interfaces (May 2024)

The Energy Level Alignment at the Buffer/Cu(In,Ga)Se2 Thin‐Film Solar Cell Interface for CdS and GaOx

  • Donald Valenta,
  • Hasan Arif Yetkin,
  • Tim Kodalle,
  • Jakob Bombsch,
  • Raul Garcia‐Diez,
  • Claudia Hartmann,
  • Shigenori Ueda,
  • Roberto Félix,
  • Johannes Frisch,
  • Lucas Bodenstein‐Dresler,
  • Regan G. Wilks,
  • Christian A. Kaufmann,
  • Marcus Bär

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/admi.202301110
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 13
pp. n/a – n/a

Abstract

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Abstract Sputter‐deposited GaOx (i.e., oxygen‐deficient gallium oxide) films are evaluated as a potential replacement for the standard CdS buffer layers in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGSe) based thin‐film photovoltaics. The energy level alignment at the GaOx/CIGSe and CdS/CIGSe interfaces are compared by means of direct and inverse photoemission. For the GaOx/CIGSe a (0.04 ± 0.07) eV (i.e., a small spike‐like) conduction band offset (CBO) and a (−3.21 ± 0.19) eV (i.e., a large cliff‐like) valence band offset (VBO) are found, which suggests a nearly ideal charge‐selective contact. The derived GaOx band gap of (4.80 ± 0.25) eV confirms its utility as a highly transparent buffer layer. However, the GaOx (with x derived to be 1.1 ± 0.1) exhibits considerable (presumably) defect‐related occupied states above the valence band maximum. It is proposed that these states may increase charge carrier recombination and decrease open circuit voltage in respective devices; also explaining why solar cells with standard CdS buffer outperform devices with GaOx buffer, despite less ideal electronic interface properties (CBO: (−0.18 ± 0.07) eV, VBO: (−0.98 ± 0.15) eV) and the smaller CdS band gap of (2.35 ± 0.22) eV.

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