68Mestefaoui

Journal of New Technology and Materials

(J. New Technol. Mater.)

Vol. 04, N°01 (2014)73-76

Effect of a buffer layer on the Performance of Thin-film Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ Solar Cells

M. Mostefaoui^{1, 2}, H. Mazari², S.Khelifi¹, R.Dabou¹

¹Unité de Recherche en Energies Renouvelables en Milieu Saharien d’Adrar, Algérie

² Laboratoire de Microélectronique Appliquée, Département d’électronique,

Université Djillali Liabès de Sidi Bel-Abbes, Algérie

Received: 30 April 2014, accepted 26 May 2014

Abstract

Copper indium gallium diselenide (CuIn_1-xGa_xSe2 or CIGSe) solar cells has been considered to be one of the most promising thin-film solar cells and is important for terrestrial applications because of their high efficiency, long-term stable performance and potential for low-cost production. In this work, the CIGS heterojunction solar cell has been numerically simulated using SCAPS-1D tool. We study the influence of a buffer layer on the performance of the CIGSe solar cells. Quantum efficiency, Jsc ,Voc and efficiency has been calculated in different buffer layer materials (CdS, ZnS, ZnSe, InS).The solar cell optimized shows an efficiency of > 18% under the AM1.5G spectrum and one sun.

Keywords :CIGSe solar cells, buffer layer, simulation, SCAPS-1D.