Symposium ES14-Thin-Film Chalcogenide Semiconductor Photovoltaics

Recent advances in Thin-Film Chalcogenide Semiconductor Photovoltaics have shown the large potential of these technologies for generating sustainable and cost-efficient energy, with demonstrated conversion efficiencies above 20% and several advantages in manufacturing and materials costs. In the last years, significant breakthroughs in the fundamental understanding of the established thin film materials have made them competitive with the mature Si-based solar cells. In addition to efficiency improvements, an emerging area of research is degradation science of chalcogenide materials and products, in order to establish and consolidate the industrial development and competitiveness of these technologies. At the same time, new promising materials that have already shown more than 10% efficiency are emerging, and they indicate great potential for further improvements. As the community continues to break these efficiency barriers, deeper understanding of the fundamental bulk and surface material properties, device behavior, advanced fabrication processes, and long-term performance have become even more important.

This symposium will focus on the science of materials, defects, interfaces, degradation, reliability, and devices; development of characterization methods; and advancement of manufacturing processes in thin film chalcogenide solar cells and related applications. Relevant materials and structures include - but are not limited to - Cu(In,Ga)Se₂, CdTe, Cu₂ZnSn(S,Se)₄, SnS, pyrites, and associated heterojunction partners and window layers. Reviews on innovative technology developments and fundamental scientific insights on materials will be included. A special session will be organized on the high-interest topic of tandem solar cells of chalcogenides with other technologies (e.g. CIGS/perovskite).

• New absorbers with superior photovoltaic properties
• Materials theory and first principle simulations
• Device modeling
• Defect characterization, modeling, and passivation
• Methods for the synthesis and growth of thin-film and bulk chalcogenide semiconductors for photovoltaic applications
• New characterization techniques for important materials and device properties
• Optical and electronic properties of current and new solar cell materials
• Surfaces, interfaces, and extended defects, such as the characterization and modeling of dislocations and grain boundaries
• Structure, microstructure, inhomogeneities, and potential fluctuations
• Manufacturing topics, including advances in process scaling, module integration, and manufacturing metrology
• Materials science of reliability, metastability, and degradation of chalcogenide devices, modules, and products
• Tandem solar cells of chalcogenides with other technologies (e.g. CIGS/perovskite)

• ES14_Thin-Film Chalcogenide Semiconductor Photovoltaics _0 (University of Nantes, France)
• ES14_Thin-Film Chalcogenide Semiconductor Photovoltaics _1 (Electricite de France, France)
• ES14_Thin-Film Chalcogenide Semiconductor Photovoltaics _2 (IMEC, Interuniversitair Micro-electronica Centrum, Belgium)
• ES14_Thin-Film Chalcogenide Semiconductor Photovoltaics _3 (IMRA Europe, Institut Minoru de Recherche Avancée, France)
• ES14_Thin-Film Chalcogenide Semiconductor Photovoltaics _4 (ZSW, Zentrum für Sonnenenergie- und Wasserstoff-Forschung, Germany)
• ES14_Thin-Film Chalcogenide Semiconductor Photovoltaics _5 (University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA)
• ES14_Thin-Film Chalcogenide Semiconductor Photovoltaics _6 (U.S. Department of Energy, USA)
• ES14_Thin-Film Chalcogenide Semiconductor Photovoltaics _7 (Solar Frontier, Japan)
• ES14_Thin-Film Chalcogenide Semiconductor Photovoltaics _8 (National Renewable Energy Laboratory, USA)
• ES14_Thin-Film Chalcogenide Semiconductor Photovoltaics _9 (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA)
• ES14_Thin-Film Chalcogenide Semiconductor Photovoltaics _10 (Ritsumeikan University, Japan)
• ES14_Thin-Film Chalcogenide Semiconductor Photovoltaics _11 (EMPA, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research, Switzerland)
• ES14_Thin-Film Chalcogenide Semiconductor Photovoltaics _12 (First Solar, USA)
• ES14_Thin-Film Chalcogenide Semiconductor Photovoltaics _13 (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Republic of Korea)
• ES14_Thin-Film Chalcogenide Semiconductor Photovoltaics _14 (Arizona State University, USA)