Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Design and Simulation of Single-Junction and Multi-junction Thin-Film Solar Cells Based on Copper Tin Sulfide

  • Published:
Journal of Electronic Materials Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this paper, single- and multi-junction thin-film solar cells based on copper tin sulfide (CTS) are proposed. The proposed single-junction cell consists of copper zinc tin sulfide (CZTS) and CTS, as a bilayer absorber. The double-junction structure is made of CZTS and CTS absorber layers for the top and bottom cells, respectively. Furthermore, a CZTS/(CZTSe)/CTS triple-junction cell, which is based on earth-abundant and non-toxic elements, is investigated. The performance of the proposed cells in the presence of tin sulfide layers as the back surface field to reduce recombination is also examined. In order to reach the maximum efficiency, the thickness of layers is varied and optimized. The simulated efficiency of the triple-junction structure, including CZTS, CZTSe, and CTS with the optimal thickness of 0.4 μm, 0.7 μm, and 0.7 μm, respectively, was as high as 34.1%.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. X. Liu, Y. Feng, H. Cui, F. Liu, X. Hao, G. Conibeer, D.B. Mitzi, and M. Green, Prog. Photovolt Res. Appl. 24, 879 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. A.D. Adewoyin, M.A. Olopade, and M. Chendo, Opt. Quant. Electron. 49, 336 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. S. Vallisree, R. Thangavel, and T.R. Lenka, J. Mater. Sci.: Mater. Electron. 29, 7262 (2018).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. C. Yanyan, M.S. Denny, J. Jonathan, J. Caspar, W. Farneth, O. Guo, A. Ionkin, L. Johnson, M. Lu, I. Malajovich, D. Radu, H.D. Rosenfeld, K. Choudhury, and W. Wu, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 134, 15644 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. M. He, A.C. Lokhande, I.Y. Kim, U.V. Ghorpade, M.P. Suryawanshi, and J.H. Kim, J. Alloys Compd. 701, 901 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. K. Chino, J. Koike, S. Eguchi, H. Araki, R. Nakamura, K. Jimbo, and H. Katagiri, J. Appl. Phys. 51, 10NC35-1 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. A.C. Lokhande, R.B.V. Chalapathy, M. He, M. Jo, M. Gang, S.A. Pawar, C.D. Lokhande, and J.H. Kim, Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells 153, 84 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. A. Kanai, K. Chino, H. Katagiri, and H. Araki, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 54, 08KC06-1 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. E.S. Hossain, P. Chelvanathan, S.A. Shahahmadi, K. Sopian, B. Bais, and N. Amin, Curr. Appl. Phys. 18, 79 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. U. Saha and M.K. Alam, RSC. Adv. 7, 4806 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. A. Luque and S. Hegedus, Handbook of Photovoltaic Science and Engineering (England: Wiley, 2003).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  12. S. Benabbas, H. Heriche, Z. Rouabah and N. Chelali, IEEE, In NAWDMPV Proceedings (2014), pp. 1–5.

  13. Y. Ren, M. Richter, J. Keller, A. Redinger, T. Unold, O.D.J.S. Gargand, J. Scragg, and C.P. Bjorkman, ACS Energy Lett. 2, 976 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. J. Poprek, Optoelectronic Devices: Introduction to Physics and Simulation, Sciencedirect, 1st ed. (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2003), pp. 1–279.

    Google Scholar 

  15. P. H. Drive, Atlas User’s Manual device simulation software, (2016).

  16. K. Ito, Copper Zinc Tin Sulfide-Based Thin-Film Solar Cells (Japan: Wiley, Shinshu University, Nagano, 2015).

    Google Scholar 

  17. D. Tiwari, T.K. Chaudhuri, T. Shripathi, U. Deshpande, and V.G. Sathe, J. Mater. Sci.: Mater. Electron. 25, 3687 (2014).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. E. Palik, Handbook of optical constants of solids (San Diego: Academic press, 1998).

    Google Scholar 

  19. A.E. Abdelrahman, W.M.M. Yunus, A.K. Arof, and J. Non-Cryst, Solids. 358, 1447 (2012).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. S.S. Hegde, A.G. Kunjomana, P. Murahari, B.K. Prasad, and K. Ramesh, Surf. Interface 10, 78 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. M. Richter, C. Schubbert, P. Eraerds, I. Riedel, J. Keller, J. Parisi, T. Dalibor, and A.A. Hampe, Thin Solid Films 535, 331 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. S.R. Meher, L. Balakrishnan, and Z.C. Alex, Superlatti. Microstruct. 100, 703 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. M. Nakashima, J. Fujimoto, T. Yamaguchi, and M. Izaki, Appl. Phys. Express 8, 042303 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. S. Amiri and S. Dehghani, J. Electron. Mater. 49, 2164 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. O.V. Roos, J. Appl. Phys. 49, 3503 (1987).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. J.G. Fossum, IEEE Trans. Electron Devices 24, 322 (1977).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Y. Xu and J. Liu, Small 12, 1400 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. B. Shin, O. Gunawan, Y. Zhu, N.A. Bojarczuk, S.J. Chey, and S. Guha, Prog. Photovolt: Res. Appl. 21, 72 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. T. Todorov, T. Gershon, O. Gunawan, C. Sturdevant, and S. Guha, Appl. Phys. Lett. 105, 173902 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. U. Saha and M.K. Alam, RSC Adv. 8, 4905 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. K.J. Yang, J.H. Sim, B. Jeon, D.H. Son, D.H. Kim, S.J. Sung, D.K. Hwang, S. Song, D.B. Khadka, J. Kim, and J.K. Kang, Prog. Photovolt: Res. Appl. 23, 862 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. M. Jiang, Y. Li, R. Dhakal, P. Thapaliya, M. Mastro, J.D. Caldwell, F. Kub, and X. Yan, J Photon Energy 1, 019501-1 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. M.C. Benachour, R. Bensaha, and R. Moreno, Optik 187, 1 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Advanced Technologies, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

    Samaneh Amiri & Sajjad Dehghani

Authors
  1. Samaneh Amiri
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sajjad Dehghani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sajjad Dehghani.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Amiri, S., Dehghani, S. Design and Simulation of Single-Junction and Multi-junction Thin-Film Solar Cells Based on Copper Tin Sulfide. J. Electron. Mater. 49, 5895–5902 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-020-08382-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-020-08382-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation