M.Sc. / Thin film solar cells based on polycrystalline indium diselenide (CulnSe₂) and amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) are promising candidates for the efficient conversion of sunlight into useable, cheap electrical energy. However, typical device structures are rather complex and consists of semiconductor/metal contacts as well as complicated p - n and p - i - n heterojunctions. In this study, CulnSe₂ absorber layers with excellent material properties were prepared by the selenization of metallic alloys. The a-Si:H thin films were deposited by radio frequency (RF) glow discharge in vacuum. The polycrystalline and amorphous absorber layers were deposited on glass and flexible substrates. In each case, a systematic study was conducted in which all the relevant processing parameters were varied over a broad range. These studies indicated that the structural features of the substrate significantly influence the structural features of the semiconductor thin films. The flexible substrate (kapton) was characterized by the presence of ridges, which distorted the growth behavior of the films. Deposition of ln/Cu/ln metallic alloys onto Mo coated glass (kapton) resulted in discontinuous metallic alloys, which were characterized by the presence of separated elongated island structures. The structural features of the precursors were maintained in the absorber film after selenization in elemental Se vapor. The morphological features of the CulnSe₂ absorber films were also critically influenced by the reaction temperature And reaction period to Se. The structural features on a-Si:H was significantly influenced by the structural features of the particular substrate used. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging in combination with statistical analysis revealed higher roughness values when the amorphous semiconductor materials were deposited onto kapton, which negatively impacts on the device properties of solar cell devices.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:2168 |
| Date | 14 March 2012 |
| Creators | Langa, Dolly Frans |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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