In-depth analysis of potential-induced degradation in a commercial CIGS PV module

A post-mortem analysis is conducted after potential-induced degradation (PID) of a commercial copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS) photovoltaic module. After PID, the conversion efficiency of the total module decreased by 62%. Electroluminescence images of the module show that the edges of the modules were much more affected by the PID than the...

Alkali treatment for single-stage co-evaporated thin CuIn0.7Ga0.3Se2 solar cells

KF and NaF treatments were done for single-stage co-evaporated CuIn0.7Ga0.3Se2. The absorber layers were grown on a substrate with an alkali barrier layer and NaF was either added before or after absorber layer growth. No differences were found on the device performance amongst the procedures to add Na. This is expected if the single-stage...

Impact of atmospheric species on copper indium gallium selenide solar cell stability: An overview

An overview of the measurement techniques and results of studies on the stability of copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) solar cells and their individual layers in the presence of atmospheric species is presented: in these studies, Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells, their molybdenum back contact, and their ZnO:Al front contact were exposed to liquid...

Physical and chemical degradation behavior of sputtered aluminum doped zinc oxide layers for Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells

Sputtered aluminum doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Al) layers on borosilicate glass were exposed to damp heat (85 C/85% relative humidity) for 2876 h to accelerate the physical and chemical degradation behavior. The ZnO:Al samples were characterized by electrical, compositional and optical measurements before and after degradation. Hall measurements show...

Ultra-short-pulsed laser-machined nanogratings of laser-induced periodic surface structures on thin molybdenum layers

Large areas of regular diffraction nanogratings were produced consisting of so-called laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) on thin molybdenum layers (<400 nm) deposited on a borosilicate glass substrate. The aim was to produce these structures without ablating nor cracking the molybdenum layer. Ultra short laser pulses were applied...