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Numerical study of CdTe solar cells with p-MoTe₂ TMDC as an interfacial layer using SCAPS

College of Engineering and Technology, American University of the Middle East (AUM ), P. O. Box 220, Dasman, Kuwait City 15453, Kuwait

E-mail Address: mohamed.orabi@aum.edu.kw

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Tariq Alzoubi

College of Engineering and Technology, American University of the Middle East (AUM ), P. O. Box 220, Dasman, Kuwait City 15453, Kuwait

E-mail Address: tariq.alzoubi@aum.edu.kw

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https://doi.org/10.1142/S021798491850269XCited by:24 (Source: Crossref)

Abstract

The impact of molybdenum ditelluride (p-type MoTe₂) transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) material formation as an interfacial layer between CdTe absorber layer and Mo back contact is investigated. The simulation is conducted using the solar cell capacitance simulator (SCAPS) software. Band gap energy, carrier concentration, and layer thickness of the p-MoTe₂ have been varied in this study to investigate the possible influences of p-MoTe₂ on the electrical properties and the photovoltaic parameters of CdTe thin film solar cells. It has been observed that a thickness of the p-MoTe₂ interfacial layer less than 60 nm leads to a decrease in the cell performance. In regard to the effect of the band gap, a maximum efficiency of 16.4% at the optimum energy gap value of 0.95 eV has been obtained at a doping of $1 0^{19} {cm}^{- 3}$ $1 0^{19} {cm}^{- 3}$ . Additionally, increasing the acceptor carrier concentration $(N_{A})$ $(N_{A})$ of MoTe₂ enhances the solar cell performance. The solar cell efficiency reaches 15.5% with $N_{A}$ $N_{A}$ of $1 0^{18} {cm}^{- 3}$ $1 0^{18} {cm}^{- 3}$ with layer thicknesses above 80 nm. This might be attributed to the possibility of forming a back surface field for the photogenerated electrons, which reduces recombination at the back contact and hence provides a low resistivity contact for holes. The results justify that the MoTe₂ interfacial layer mediates an ohmic contact to CdTe films.

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