Cadmium telluride photovoltaics

Cadmium telluride (CdTe) photovoltaics is a photovoltaic (PV) technology based on the use of cadmium telluride in a thin semiconductor layer designed to absorb and convert sunlight into electricity. Cadmium telluride PV is the only thin film technology with lower costs than conventional solar cells made of crystalline silicon in multi-kilowatt systems. On a lifecycle basis, CdTe PV has the smallest carbon footprint, lowest water use and shortest energy payback time of any current photovoltaic technology. CdTe's energy payback time of less than a year allows for faster carbon reductions without short-term energy deficits. The toxicity of cadmium is an environmental concern during production and when the panels are disposed of. Some of this might be mitigated by recycling of CdTe modules at the end of their life time, as there are uncertainties regarding the recycling of CdTe modules and the public opinion is skeptical towards this technology. The usage of ra

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Laser applications in thin-film photovoltaics

Christophe Ballif, Andrea Feltrin, Benjamin Strahm

We review laser applications in thin-film photovoltaics (thin-film Si, CdTe, and Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells). Lasers are applied in this growing field to manufacture modules, to monitor Si deposition processes, and to characterize opto-electrical properties of thin films. Unlike traditional panels based on crystalline silicon wafers, the individual cells of a thin-film photovoltaic module can be serially interconnected by laser scribing during fabrication. Laser scribing applications are described in detail, while other laserbased fabrication processes, such as laser-induced crystallization and pulsed laser deposition, are briefly reviewed. Lasers are also integrated into various diagnostic tools to analyze the composition of chemical vapors during deposition of Si thin films. Silane (SiH4), silane radicals (SiH3, SiH2, SiH, Si), and Si nanoparticles have all been monitored inside chemical vapor deposition systems. Finally, we review various thin-film characterization methods, in which lasers are implemented.

Springer Verlag2009

Monitoring water vapour penetration using a contactless technique

Christophe Ballif, Mustapha Benkhaira, Laure-Emmanuelle Perret Aebi

Some layers of thin film photovoltaic modules maybe critically sensitive to moisture. In this study we present a new tool for monitoring the effect of moisture using a particular Transparent Conductive Oxide (TCO) as a sensor. The moisture content of the encapsulant was determined by Fourier Transform Infra Red (FTIR) spectroscopic measurements. The TCO resistivity was measured using an inductive method. The different spectroscopic results show that the diffusion of water vapour in the encapsulant used in this study is in good agreement with Fick’s law and correlate well with the increase of resistivity of the TCO. However, the transport measurements bring evidence for a degradation of the TCO resistivity undetectable by conventional FTIR measurements.

2009

Anodic degradation of ZnO on soda-lime glass

Christophe Ballif

We introduce a novel degradation effect of the transparent conductive oxide zinc oxide (ZnO). The effect is observed for ZnO layers deposited on commercially available soda-lime glass. When an electric ﬁeld is applied, the potential induced anodic degradation causes a massive sheet resistance increase of the ZnO. We show that the increase in resistance strongly affects the power output of a small non-encapsulated thin-ﬁlm photovoltaic module, in which ZnO was used as the front electrode. For the module, an amorphous silicon top and a microcrystalline silicon bottom cell were used in the tandem conﬁguration. We found that the evolution of gaseous oxygen at the anode (ZnO) might be responsible for the increased resistance of the ZnO. A model that describes our observation is presented and solutions to suppress the effect are proposed.

Elsevier2013

Thin-film solar cell

Thin-film solar cells are made by depositing one or more thin layers (thin films or TFs) of photovoltaic material onto a substrate, such as glass, plastic or metal. Thin-film solar cells are typically

Solar cell

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Solar panel

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A link between the fundamental physics, device operation and technological development of various solar cell technologies. Learning about all modern photovoltaic technlogies incl. industrially relevant wafer based silicon, thin film chalcogenide, III-V, multijunction, organic and hybrid solar cells.