Open-circuit voltage, fill factor, and efficiency of a CdS/CdTe solar cell

摘要

The dependences of the open-circuit voltage, fill factor, and efficiency of the thin-film CdS/CdTe solar cell on the resistivity ρ and carrier lifetime τ in the absorbing CdTe layer were studied. In the common case in which the uncompensated acceptor concentration and the electron lifetime in the CdTe layer are within 10~(15)-10~(16) cm~(-3) and 10~(-10)-10~(-9) s, the calculation results correspond to the achieved efficiency of the best thin-film CdS/CdTe solar cells. It was shown that, by decreasing ρ and increasing τ in the absorbing CdTe layer, the open-circuit voltage, fill factor, and efficiency can be substantially increased, with their values approaching the theoretical limit for such devices.