All-back-Schottky-contact thin-film photovoltaics

Marco Nardone

Citation: Journal of Applied Physics 119, 084501 (2016); doi: 10.1063/1.4942218

View online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4942218
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 JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS 119, 084501 (2016)

All-back-Schottky-contact thin-film photovoltaics

Marco Nardonea)
Department of Environment and Sustainability, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403,
USA
(Received 20 November 2015; accepted 5 February 2016; published online 22 February 2016)
The concept of All-Back-Schottky-Contact (ABSC) thin-film photovoltaic (TFPV) devices is intro-
duced and evaluated using 2D numerical simulation. Reach-through Schottky junctions due to two
metals of different work functions in an alternating, side-by-side pattern along the non-illuminated
side generate the requisite built-in field. It is shown that our simulation method quantitatively
describes existing data for a recently demonstrated heterojunction thin-film cell with interdigitated
back contacts (IBCs) of one metal type. That model is extended to investigate the performance of
ABSC devices with bimetallic IBCs within a pertinent parameter space. Our calculations indicate
that 20% efficiency is achievable with micron-scale features and sufficient surface passivation.
Bimetallic, micron-scale IBCs are readily fabricated using photo-lithographic techniques and the
ABSC design allows for optically transparent surface passivation layers that need not be electrically
conductive. The key advantages of the ABSC-TFPV architecture are that window layers, buffer
layers, heterojunctions, and module scribing are not required because both contacts are located on the
back of the device. VC 2016 AIP Publishing LLC. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4942218]

I. INTRODUCTION dissimilar metals form interdigitated back contacts (IBCs) on

Conventional polycrystalline thin-film photovoltaic
(TFPV) technologies are comprised several stacked layers of
semiconductors and dielectrics sandwiched between electro-
des, with a transparent conducting oxide (TCO) serving as the
electrode on the illuminated side. A p-n heterojunction is an
integral part of those devices. Monolithic modules are formed
by large area deposition of the various layers and intricate
scribing techniques to connect long, thin cells in series with
each other, followed by encapsulation (see Ref. 1 for details).
Technologies such as cadmium telluride (CdTe) and copper
indium gallium selenium (CIGS) have achieved commercial
success, but advancements are required to reduce cost while
increasing module efficiency and reliability.
There are several shortcomings with the conventional
design. Low-cost deposition methods lead to interfaces with
high densities of recombination centers, energy barriers, and
seeds of degradation.2 Also, the TCO layer accounts for
approximately 10% of the module cost3 and its relatively
high electrical resistance limits the cell width in a module,
necessitating numerous scribe lines. Module scribing results
in shadow losses (approximately 5% short-circuit current,
Jsc, loss) and damaged regions which are likely degradation
spots. The buffer layer can account for 10% of the module
cost3 and cause 10% Jsc loss4 by parasitic absorption. Lattice
mismatch at the p-n heterojunction results in high recombi-
nation losses which limit open-circuit voltage,5 Voc; exces-
sive junction degradation also occurs in these regions.6,7
Large area deposition also causes inherent nonuniformities
and significant efficiency gaps between cells and modules.8
As an alternative to the conventional approach, this
work introduces the concept of an All-Back-Schottky-
Contact (ABSC) TFPV device architecture wherein two
a)
marcon@bgsu.edu
the non-illuminated side of the device.9 Reach-through
Schottky junctions and the difference in work functions of
the bi-metallic IBCs establish the built-in field for effective
electron-hole pair separation. This approach eliminates the
need for TCO, heterojunctions, and scribing. The basic phi-
losophy is simplicity that minimizes the number of interfaces
through which charge transport is required. A schematic lay-
out is shown in Fig. 1(a).
As elaborated upon below, the two major technology
components of the ABSC device have been separately dem-
onstrated: (1) micron-scale IBCs of one metal type for heter-
ojunction TFPV devices10–14 and (2) micron-scale, bi-
metallic IBCs for organic PV with Voc proportional to the
difference in metal work functions.15,16 In what follows, we
construct a 2D simulation of the heterojunction IBC cell
mentioned in (1) above and compare our results to the exper-
imental data. We then extend that model to investigate a per-
tinent parameter space for the ABSC device and show that
with micron-scale features and sufficient surface passivation,
20% efficiency can be surpassed.
Historically, IBC-based crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar
cells were conceived17 in the 1970s and high efficiency mod-
ules are now commercially available.18 Having achieved the
record efficiency for c-Si cells,19 that technology exemplifies
the success of the all-back-contact approach. It typically
employs n-type c-Si wafer material of 100–300 lm in thick-
ness with alternating p-type and n-type zones along the back
to affect charge separation and collection.20–25 Thin-film Si
devices (2–10 lm thick) have also been developed with effi-
ciencies of greater than 10%.26–28 All of these Si-based
back-contacted approaches employ p-n junctions of some
type.
Lateral organic heterojunction cells were recently devel-
oped with IBCs of alternating metals.15 It was shown that

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V

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 084501-2 Marco Nardone
such a contacting scheme can in fact produce a built-in field
that effectively separates charge carriers if the metals are of
sufficiently different work functions. The back contact mate-
rials used in that work were Al, Au, and MoO3-coated Au
with measured work functions of 4.1, 5.1, and 5.6 eV, respec-
tively. That work also demonstrated the feasibility of using
UV-lithography to create micron-scale metal lines separated
by channels as narrow as 200 nm. Here, we investigate how
such a contacting scheme may be used to fabricate high-
efficiency TFPV cells with absorber layers comprised poly-
crystalline materials, such as CdTe or CIGS.
A series of recent works10–14 describes the development
of CdS/CdTe and CdSe/CdTe heterojunction PV devices
with micron-scale IBCs of one type of metal (Pt or Ir). The
n-type CdS or CdSe layer was selectively electrodeposited
on one of the electrodes, and then a conformal layer of p-
type CdTe was deposited on both (see Fig. 3). Hence, the p-n
heterojunction was located near the back of the device. The
highest efficiency of 5.9% was achieved for a CdSe/CdTe
cell.14 We demonstrate below that a major limitation in that
design is the use of a single type of metal contact with a
large work function (5.5 eV). The bi-metallic ABSC
FIG. 2. 2D conduction band relative to the Fermi level (gray plane at 0 eV)
at equilibrium. The back of the device is at h ¼ 0 and the location of the two
metal contacts is as shown.
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J. Appl. Phys. 119, 084501 (2016)
FIG. 1. ABSC thin-film device: (a)
Schematic with semiconductor absorber
of thickness h atop alternating layers
of metal 1 (M1), insulator (INS), and
metal 2 (M2); (b) electric potential dis-
tribution in Volts relative to vacuum
with metal work functions of /M1 ¼ 5:2
eV, /M2 ¼ 4:2 eV (other parameter
values are provided in Table I) with
wM1 =2 ¼ wM2 =2 ¼ wins ¼ h ¼ 1 lm; and
(c) electric field magnitude distribu-
tion in V/cm.
approach can significantly increase the efficiency while obvi-
ating the need for a heterojunction.
This paper is structured as follows. The pertinent
physics and analytical estimates of characteristic lengths of
an ABSC device are provided in Sec. II. Section III describes
the numerical methods and input parameters used to model
the devices. A comparison of the experimental data with
simulation results for the demonstrated CdSe/CdTe cell,
along with the predictions for the ABSC cell, is provided in
Sec. IV. The discussion and conclusions are included in
Secs. V and VI.
II. PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ABSC
DEVICE
The basic physics of ABSC-TFPV is similar to that of
metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) structures, but with
unique features due to both transverse and lateral electric
fields. For example, the electric potential varies in 2D, such
that the standard 1D energy band diagram is insufficient and
the 2D bands follow the contours in Fig. 1(b), where it can
be seen that both transverse and lateral electric fields are
generated, with the magnitudes indicated in Fig. 1(c) (the
method of calculation is described below). The conduction
band (CB) surface is illustrated in Fig. 2 where the same pa-
rameter values were used as in Fig. 1 (see Table I). The steep
CB gradient between the metals (lateral direction) and the
FIG. 3. Schematic layout of the IBC CdTe/CdSe device.
 084501-3 Marco Nardone J. Appl. Phys. 119, 084501 (2016)

TABLE I. Input parameter values. CdSe and CdTe values from Refs. 14 and through Schottky junction establishes the lateral built-in
34. Eg—bandgap, v—electron affinity, r—relative permittivity, Nc and field.
Nv—effective density of states in conduction and valence bands, ln and
lp—electron and hole mobilities, Na and Nd—acceptor and donor doping,
Another important condition ispffiffiffiffiffiffi
related to the diffusion
Nt—defect concentration, Et—defect energy above valence band, and rn and length of minority carriers, Ln ¼ Ds, because they must
rp—electron and hole capture cross-sections. migrate from the quasi-neutral zone above M1 to the high-
field/depleted region above the insulator and, finally, to M2.
Parameter Unit Generic CdTe CdSe
Therefore
Eg eV 1.5 1.41 1.74 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
v eV 4.0 4.28 4.58 wM1 ⱗ 2 lskT=q; (4)
r [0] 10 9.4 9.4
Nc cm3 1018 7:5  1017 7:5  1017 where the Einstein relation was used for the diffusion coeffi-
Nv cm3 1019 1:8  1018 1:8  1018 cient, D ¼ lkT=q with thermal voltage kT/q, minority carrier
ln cm2/(V s) 100 500 500 mobility l, and s is the minority carrier lifetime. The factor
lp cm2/(V s) 10 60 60 of 2 in Eq. (4) accounts for the requirement of carrier migra-
Na cm3 1014 5  1015 … tion for half of the contact width. The conditions on the
Nd cm3 … … 5  1015
width of metal M2 appear to be less stringent since it will
Nt cm3 1014 5  1014 2  1014
depend mostly on the majority carrier diffusion length Lp,
Et eV 0.75 0.75 0.75
rn cm2 1012 1012 1015
hence
rp cm2 1015 1015 1012
wM2 ⱗ 2Lp : (5)

relatively small gradient between the back and front surfaces
(transverse direction) are evident in Fig. 2.
Stacked, planar devices are always modeled with the
directions of light propagation and carrier currents parallel to
each other. That is not the case in ABSC devices, however,
and a 2D analysis is required to understand the unique inter-
play between drift and diffusion currents relative to the
direction of light propagation. There are several characteris-
tic lengths to consider (in what follows, we assume a p-type
semiconductor and refer to the spatial variables shown in
Fig. 1(a)). First, the depletion width, WD, of the Schottky
contact at M2 (cathode, or low work function metal) should
be within the absorber thickness; h ⱗ WD to establish a suffi-
cient field of E > 103 V/cm throughout the absorber. The
depletion width is given by29
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
20 r wbi
WD ¼ ; (1)
qNa
where q is the elementary charge, wbi is the built-in potential
of the Schottky barrier, 0 is the permittivity of free space, r
is the relative permittivity of the semiconductor, and NA is
the acceptor concentration. In addition, the semiconductor
must be thick enough to absorb the majority of incident pho-
tons: h > a1 , where a is the absorption coefficient of the
semiconductor. Thus, the conditions
a1 ⱗ h ⱗ WD
provide the optimal range for the thickness.
The depletion width also plays a role in determining the
lateral field between the metals which are separated by the
width wins. If D/M is the difference in metal work functions,
a field on the order of E  D/M =ðqwins Þ will be generated
between the metals when
wins ⱗ WD ;
such that the electric field between the metals is not signifi-
cantly screened by space charges. In that case, a reach-
Front surface conditions (charge accumulation, front surface
fields, etc.) will strongly affect the field above M2 (discussed
further below) and, therefore, minority carrier collection.
Using typical TFPV values of a1 ¼ 0:1 lm,
WD ¼ 1 lm, Ln ¼ 1 lm, and Lp ¼ 10 lm, Eqs. (2)–(5) suggest
length scales of h  1 lm, wins  1 lm, wM1  2 lm, and
wM2  20 lm.
III. NUMERICAL METHODS AND MODELS
The numerical methods consisted of solving the Poisson
equation coupled with the continuity equations for electron
and hole drift-diffusion currents using the finite volume
method with the Scharfetter-Gummel scheme (typical for
numerically solving the semiconductor equations).30 Since
the devices we are considering lack the symmetry to be mod-
R
eled in one dimension, COMSOLV Multiphysics software
was employed to solve for the electric potential, /ðx; yÞ, and
the electron, n(x, y), and hole, p(x, y), concentrations in two
dimensions. The stationary (steady state) solver is based on
Newton’s method which solves the fully coupled system of
equations.
Schematics for the modeled ABSC and CdSe/CdTe
devices are provided in Figs. 1 and 3, respectively. Input pa-
rameters for the bulk properties are provided in Table I. The
“generic” values were used for numerical modeling of the
(2) ABSC device and are typical of p-type TFPV, such as
CdTe,31 CIGS,31 copper zinc tin sulfide,32 and perovskites.33
For comparison with the data, we first simulated the proven
IBC CdSe/CdTe device using the parameter values14,34
shown in Table I. Acceptor-type doping (Na) in the CdTe
layer was slightly varied to account for different fabrication
steps, as described in Sec. IV A. A band gap of Eg ¼ 1:41 eV
was used for CdTe to correspond with the previous measure-
(3) ments14 for this device. Although that value is somewhat
lower than the typical 1.5 eV, interdiffusion of Se may have
resulted in the formation of CdTe1xSex, which can have a
band gap as low as 1.32 eV for x ¼ 0.38.35

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 084501-4 Marco Nardone J. Appl. Phys. 119, 084501 (2016)

At the contacts, the metal work functions were /M1

¼ /M2 ¼ 5:5 eV for the CdSe/CdTe device,14 and
/M1 ¼ 5:2 eV and /M2 ¼ 4:2 eV for the ABSC device. Ideal
Schottky contacts were assumed in all cases with the contact
recombination velocity set to Sbc ¼ 107 cm/s for the CdSe/
CdTe device (102  Sbc  107 cm/s was an independent
variable in the ABSC study).
Trap-assisted recombination (Shockley-Read-Hall,
SRH) was included in the bulk and on the illuminated sur-
face by specifying defect energy levels within the gap (Et),
defect concentrations (Nt in bulk and Nst at the surface), and
capture cross-sections for electrons and holes (rn, rp). Single
donor-type and acceptor-type bulk defects were included at a
mid-gap energy level in the p-type and n-type materials,
respectively. At the illuminated surface, the recombination
velocity can be approximated by Sf s ¼ Nst rs vth , where vth
¼ 107 cm/s is the thermal velocity and we assume equal cap-
ture cross sections of rs ¼ 1014 cm2 for electrons and holes. FIG. 4. Measured and simulated JV characteristics of the CdSe/CdTe IBC
device. Points are data from: (a) Ref. 12; (b) Ref. 13, without surface passi-
Nst was varied from 107 to 1014 cm2 such that 1 < Sf s vation; and (c) Ref. 13, with surface passivation. Model input parameters are
< 107 cm/s. Defect occupation probability and surface charge listed in Table I with the variations A1: Na ¼ 5  1015 cm3, Sf s ¼ 5  105
density were also included in the numerical calculations. cm/s, A2: Na ¼ 8  1014 cm3, Sf s ¼ 5  105 cm/s, and A3: Na ¼ 5  1015
Current-voltage (JV) characteristics and external quan- cm3, Sf s ¼ 5  104 cm/s.
tum efficiency (EQE) were simulated at T ¼ 293.15 K. JV
simulations were performed both in the dark and with expo- those devices was reported as 1.96%12 and 4.3%.13 CdTe
sure to AM1.5G spectrum at 100 mW/cm2 intensity. For was deposited by electrodeposition (ED) for the 1.96%-effi-
EQE, a photon flux of C0 ¼ 1015 cm3 s1 was used. In all cient cell, while pulsed laser deposition (PLD) was used for
cases, the absorption coefficient was given by a ¼ the 4.3%-efficient cell (CdSe was electrodeposited in both
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
A h  Eg for h  Eg and 0 otherwise, where h is cases). The latter study also compared changes in perform-
Planck’s constant,  is the light frequency, and ance due to surface passivation by means of brief (60 s)
A ¼ 105 eV1=2 cm1. The latter is typical of direct band-gap soaking in (NH4)2S solution at room temperature. Figs. 4
semiconductors.29 Spatial variation of the light intensity, I, and 5 include data for the ED cell unpassivated—(a) in the
within the material is given by legend, the unpassivated PLD cell (b), and the surface-
passivated PLD cell (c).
@Ix @Iy The JV data for the three cells, (a), (b), and (c), are fit
x^ þ y^ ¼ aIð x; y;  Þ: (6)
@x @y by the corresponding numerical models, A1, A2, and A3,
in Fig. 4. All three models are based on the parameter
Eq. (6) was also solved in COMSOL and essentially leads to values listed in Table I with the following variations, A1: Na
the Beer-Lambert exponential attenuation of light. The photo- ¼ 51015 cm3, Sf s ¼ 5105 cm/s, A2: Na ¼ 81014 cm3,
generation rate for each frequency is G ¼ aðIx2 þ Iy2 Þ1=2 =h
and the total for G was obtained from the sum over the perti-
nent frequency range. Reflections at the front and back surfa-
ces were neglected.
We first calculated JV and EQE for the IBC CdSe/CdTe
device for comparison to the data. For the ABSC device
study, we calculated the power conversion efficiency (g),
open circuit voltage (Voc), short-circuit current (Jsc), and fill
factor (FF) within a parameter space of contact widths (wM1
and wM2 ), absorber layer thickness (h), surface recombina-
tion velocity at the back contacts (Sbc), and at the front sur-
face (Sfs). Minority carrier lifetimes of 1 and 10 ns were also
considered. Fixed values of wins ¼ 1 lm and the difference in
metal work functions of D/M ¼ 1 eV were used.

IV. RESULTS
A. CdSe/CdTe IBC device
Figs. 4 and 5 provide the experimental JV and EQE data
extracted from Refs. 12 and 13, as well as our simulation FIG. 5. Measured and simulated EQE characteristics of the CdSe/CdTe IBC
results, for the IBC CdSe/CdTe device. The efficiency of device. Legend is the same as Fig. 4. Data for cell (c) were not available.

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 084501-5 Marco Nardone J. Appl. Phys. 119, 084501 (2016)

Sf s ¼5105 cm/s, and A3: Na ¼51015 cm3, Sf s ¼5104

cm/s. Fitting was accomplished by adjusting those parame-
ters until a reasonable fit was achieved for both the JV and
EQE data simultaneously. According to the calculations
shown in Fig. 4 for model A1, the ED cell (a) has relatively
high doping concentration and surface recombination. Model
A2 indicates that cell (b) retains the high surface recombina-
tion but has a lower doping concentration (likely due to dif-
ference in ED and PLD absorber layers). Upon soaking in
(NH4)2S, the surface recombination of cell (c) is lower by an
order of magnitude compared with that of cell (b), while the
apparent doping increases, as fit by model A3. The increase
in Jsc in going from cell (a) to cell (b) cannot be simply due
to a decrease in bulk recombination because that would also
cause an increase in Voc, which is not observed.
Significant rollover, or flattening with increasingly nega-
tive bias, is observed in the simulated JV curves. Although
FIG. 6. Efficiency contours as a function of absorber layer thickness and
less drastic, the data for these devices also consistently indi- contact widths (assuming wM1 ¼ wM2 ) and the parameters of Table I with
cate similar rollover behavior,12,14 which was attributed to front surface and back contact recombination velocities of Sfs ¼ 0 and
the Schottky barrier at the CdSe/metal interface. Our simula- Sbc ¼ 100 cm/s, respectively. Parameters corresponding to the circled area at
wM1 ¼ wM2 ¼ 2 are further evaluated in Figs. 8 and 9.
tions confirm that relaxing the barrier by reducing the metal
work function from /m1 ¼ 5:5 eV to <5.1 eV alleviates roll- For our calculations, we first consider optimistic surface
over and significantly improves performance, mostly through and back contact recombination by setting Sfs ¼ 0 and
Voc (not shown). The discrepancy in the rollover may also Sbc ¼ 100 cm/s. Bulk SRH recombination is significant
arise from the fact that our model assumes ideal Schottky though, with an approximate minority carrier lifetime of s
contacts, while the real devices likely experience barrier ¼ ðrn Nt vth Þ1 ¼ 1 ns, using the parameters in Table I and
lowering effects due to imperfections at the interface. thermal velocity vth ¼ 107 cm/s. A similar bulk lifetime of
EQE data and calculations are shown in Fig. 5. The 0.5 ns was used for the CdSe/CdTe cell simulations pre-
models A1 and A2 with high Sf s ¼ 5  105 cm/s match the sented above. As shown in Fig. 6, the efficiency calculations
shapes of the EQE data for cells (a) and (b). Decreasing to within the parameter space of 0:5  h  4 lm and 1  wM1
Sf s ¼ 5  104 cm/s flattens the curve to that shown by A3 by ¼ wM2  10 lm were within the range of 13% < g < 18%.
enabling collection of carriers generated by shorter wave- The optimum thickness of h  1 lm is in accordance with
lengths near the surface. In general, we found that the shape Eq. (2) and of reasonable magnitude given the estimates pro-
of the EQE curves depended strongly on Sfs. The constant vided in Sec. II. As expected from Eq. (4), narrower contact
upward shift from A1 to A2 is due to the difference in dop- width wM1 leads to higher efficiency.
ing, which changes the electric field distribution. EQE data Fig. 7 shows the resulting increase in efficiency when the
for the passivated cell (c) were not available in Ref. 13, but minority carrier lifetime is increased to s ¼ 10 ns (by lowering
later work14 for similar cells exhibited the same curve the mid-gap defect concentration to Nt ¼ 1013 cm3). The
shapes. Therefore, the improvement in cell (c) was likely
due not only to passivation but also space charge distribution
and contact uniformity.
Given the uncertainty in material and optical properties,
the simultaneous and reasonable fits of both JV and EQE
indicate that the physics underlying the operation of this de-
vice is essentially embodied in our calculations. The results
clearly show that both doping and surface recombination
play important roles. When doping is excessive, the built-in
field is confined to the p-n junction region near the back of
the device and carrier collection efficiency is reduced, as dis-
cussed with respect to Eq. (1).

B. ABSC device
The ABSC device is similar to the CdSe/CdTe device
but with the CdSe layer removed and with the use of a shal-
lower work function metal at the former CdSe contact. Fig. 1
FIG. 7. Efficiency contours as a function of absorber layer thickness and
shows the electric potential and field distribution using the contact widths (assuming wM1 ¼ wM2 ) with the same parameters as Fig. 6
parameter values given in Sec. III. except for an increase of minority carrier lifetime from s ¼ 1 ns to s ¼ 10 ns.

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 084501-6 Marco Nardone
efficiency spans from 9% to 21% over a range of contact
widths 2 < wM1 ¼ wM2 < 22 lm and absorber thicknesses
0:25 < h < 1:5 lm. In this case, efficiency remains above
18% for up to 20–lm contact width when the absorber thick-
ness is optimized at h ⱗ 1. The optimum thickness decreased
slightly below 1 lm because the lower density of occupied
defect states affects space charge and slightly lowers the built-
in field which, in turn, lowers WD in Eq. (1). In addition, wider
contacts are afforded in this case due to the longer lifetime, as
suggested by Eq. (4).
It should be noted that Eq. (1) may be an oversimplifica-
tion of the depletion width because WD will also depend on:
(i) the compensation of Na by charged defect states and (ii)
the insulating boundary condition at the front surface which
requires that the normal component of the field satisfies
n  E ¼ Qt , where  is the semiconductor permittivity, n is
the surface normal unit vector, and Qt is the surface charge
density due to traps there. Hence, the properties of both the
bulk and surface defects play important roles in determining
the field distribution.
Fig. 8 shows the effects of back contact recombination
velocity, Sbc, on the performance metrics assuming the
dimensions of the circled point in Fig. 6 and minority carrier
lifetimes of s ¼ 1 ns and s ¼ 10 ns. Maximum efficiencies of
19.5% and 21.5% were achieved at Sbc ¼ 103 cm/s, which
then decayed to nearly stable values between 15.5% and
FIG. 8. Performance metrics vs. back contact surface recombination velocity
Sbc assuming Sfs ¼ 0 at the front surface and minority carrier lifetimes of
s ¼ 1 ns (parameters from Table I) and s ¼ 10 ns. wM1 ¼ wM2 ¼ 2 lm and
h ¼ 1 lm.
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J. Appl. Phys. 119, 084501 (2016)
16% when Sbc ¼ 107 cm/s (this scenario uses Sfs ¼ 0 cm/s). It
is apparent that Sbc affected efficiency mainly through FF
and Voc. The latter monotonically decayed from 1.0 V to
0.9 V while FF varied non-monotonically, in correspondence
with g. The non-monotonic behavior of g and FF was due to
the effect of Sbc on the minority carrier distribution and,
therefore, on the electric field (as is the case in a high-
injection scenario, n  Na ). Our calculations show that
increasing Sbc decreases the transverse field at the metal con-
tacts while increasing the lateral field above the insulator,
resulting in an optimum Sbc.
Next, we consider front surface effects as governed by
varying the surface recombination velocity in the range of
102  Sf s  107 cm/s. We also considered both the worse
case scenario of Sbc ¼ 107 cm/s and passivated Sbc ¼ 103 cm/s.
The profound effect of front surface recombination is evident
in Fig. 9 as efficiency drops from 15.3% to 5.3% over the
range of Sfs for Sbc ¼ 107 cm/s. Improving the back surface
passivation so that Sbc ¼ 103 cm/s increased efficiency to a
maximum of 19.1% but resulted in no performance gain at
large values of Sfs, which dominated efficiency reduction.
Losses were greatest for FF and Jsc, while Voc exhibited a rel-
atively small loss. Qualitatively, those variations are a result
of the increase in recombination in the area of greatest photo-
absorption (at the front), while the Schottky junction field is
strongest near the back.
FIG. 9. Performance metrics vs. front surface recombination velocity Sfs for
Sbc ¼ 107 cm/s and Sbc ¼ 103 cm/s at the back contacts. Device parameters
are from Table I with s ¼ 1 ns, wM1 ¼ wM2 ¼ 2 lm, and h ¼ 1 lm.
 084501-7 Marco Nardone
V. DISCUSSION
Development of the IBC CdSe/CdTe device proves that
an all-back-contact, thin-film polycrystalline cell can achieve
nearly 6% efficiency. The ABSC concept improves upon
that design by eliminating the heterojunction, along with the
large CdSe/CdTe band offsets, and replacing one of the con-
tacts with a shallow work function metal. Our approach goes
against the conventional wisdom that a PV cell should have
the greatest photo-absorption in the region of strongest elec-
tric field to optimize electron-hole pair separation. But, we
have shown that a high performance device may still be real-
izable due to the presence of both lateral and transverse
built-in electric fields. An added benefit of the ABSC design
is that the Schottky junctions are buried and therefore pro-
tected against the degrading effects of high carrier injection.6
Our results indicate that surface passivation is essential.
A primary advantage of the all-back-contact architecture is
that it allows for passivation of the front surface by materials
that need not carry photo-current (i.e., they only need to be
optically transparent). If CdTe is used as the absorber, one
promising passivation candidate is Cd1xMgxTe because it
has a maximum lattice mismatch of <1% with CdTe and a
tunable band gap from 1.48 to 3.2 eV for x ¼ 0 to 1.36 Band
gaps greater than 2 eV would be required to minimize para-
sitic absorption losses. Surface recombination velocities as
low as 500 cm/s have been reported for CdMgTe/CdTe (crys-
talline).37 Also, CdMgTe/CdTe forms a type-I heterojunction
for effective electron and hole blocking38 and can be doped
n-type or p-type to facilitate a front surface field. Given these
features, a CdMgTe layer may provide better passivation
than the (NH4)2S soaking method employed for the CdSe/
CdTe devices,13 but further study is required. Passivation of
the CdTe surface using alternative chemical methods has
also been reported.39,40
The important distinction of ABSC cells from conven-
tional TFPV is that the reach-through Schottky junctions can
generate an electric field of E > 103 V/cm throughout the
absorber, thereby enabling effective electron-hole separation.
Some of the main advantages of the ABSC design include:
(1) no TCO, heterojunctions, or buffer layers, thus reducing
parasitic photon absorption and interface issues; (2) no scrib-
ing requirements for module fabrication thereby reducing
damage and shadow losses; (3) opportunities for design opti-
mization via optical control and back contact shape/size; and
(4) innovative module assembly could be realized because
both contacts are on the back of the device. Several of those
points could also help to reduce losses in going from cell to
module. On the other hand, simplification of the semicon-
ductor components leads to added complexity in the metal
contacting scheme, which is among several possible chal-
lenges, such as fabricating a high density of Schottky con-
tacts, shunting between contacts, and material compatibility
between metals of different work functions and the semicon-
ductor. Some of those issues could be minimized by using
larger contact feature sizes, which would be enabled by
using absorber layers with longer diffusion lengths.
Experimental efforts to develop a proof of concept is of
foremost importance but additional theoretical analysis may
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J. Appl. Phys. 119, 084501 (2016)
include a broader exploration of the parameter space, opti-
mal band gap grading, light trapping measures, low level
light concentration, and a front surface field layer. Such
measures could improve efficiency well beyond 20% while
making the absorber layer thinner and the contacts wider.
VI. CONCLUSIONS
In summary, a novel design concept for thin-film PV has
been presented for which the primary technology compo-
nents have been previously demonstrated. Our simulation
results account for the existing data and show that 20% effi-
ciency can be achieved by the all-back-Schottky-contact
architecture with effective surface passivation. This
approach obviates the need for window layers, buffer layers,
heterojunctions, and module scribing.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author acknowledges financial support from Bowling
Green State University Faculty Research Committee. Useful
discussions with Victor G. Karpov and David S. Albin are
also greatly appreciated.
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