Low temperature (Zn,Sn)O deposition for reducing interface open-circuit voltage deficit to achieve highly efficient...

Cu(In,Ga)S₂ holds the potential to become a prime candidate for use as the top cell in tandem solar cells owing to its tunable bandgap from 1.55 eV (CuInS₂) to 2.50 eV (CuGaS₂) and favorable electronic properties. Devices above 14% power conversion efficiency (PCE) can be achieved by replacing the CdS buffer layer with a (Zn,Mg)O or Zn(O,S) buffer layer. However, the maximum achievable PCE of these devices is limited by the necessary high heating temperatures during or after buffer deposition, as this leads to a drop in the quasi-Fermi level splitting (qFLs) and therefore the maximum achievable open-circuit voltage (V_OC). In this work, a low-temperature atomic layer deposited (Zn,Sn)O thin film is explored as a buffer layer to mitigate the drop in the qFLs. The devices made with (Zn,Sn)O buffer layers are characterized by calibrated photoluminescence and current-voltage measurements to analyze the optoelectronic and electrical characteristics. An improvement in the qFLs after buffer deposition is observed for devices prepared with the (Zn,Sn)O buffer deposited at 120 °C. Consequently, a device with a V_OC value above 1 V was achieved. A 14% PCE is externally measured and certified for the best solar cell. The results show the necessity of developing a low-temperature buffer deposition process to maintain and translate absorber qFLs to device V_OC.