Enhancing Hole Density and Suppressing Recombination Centers through Illumination in Kesterite Thin Film Solar Cells

Enhancing carrier density and increasing carrier lifetime are critical for the good performance of thin film solar cells. We apply illumination during the growth of kesterite Cu₂ZnSnS₄ (CZTS) to enhance hole density and suppress defects of nonradiative electron-hole recombination centers simultaneously. To examine the effect of the injected carriers generated by illumination, we first extend the scheme of detailed balance equations relating free carriers and defects beyond thermal equilibrium conditions by developing an extended Fermi level (E_F^') to characterize a homogeneous semiconductor with non-equilibrium carriers. On the basis of this scheme, we find that illumination can promote the formation of carrier-providing defects and suppress the formation of carrier-compensating defects. Then, we demonstrate that applying proper illumination during the growth of CZTS will help achieve a higher hole density and simultaneously suppress the formation of the Sn_Zn antisite significantly, which are beneficial for the performance of CZTS solar cells.