Symposium EN02-Thin-Film Compound Semiconductor Photovoltaics

As aggressive decarbonization goals are set around the world it is important that we maintain a pipeline of high-performance photovoltaic (PV) materials, both well-known and novel, to meet growing demand. Thin-film compound semiconductor PV materials are well suited to help meet this demand as they continue to demonstrate their potential for generating sustainable and cost-efficient electrical energy. Both fundamental understanding and processing techniques have enabled advantages in manufacturing and materials costs, with power conversion efficiencies now above 20%, but cutting-edge materials research is still needed for these technologies to flourish. Emerging areas of research include the materials science of degradation, understanding the roles of passivation and compensation, reducing interface and grain boundary recombination, tandem, bifacial, and semitransparent devices. The symposium will focus on the science and technology of polycrystalline films, single crystal model systems, defects, interfaces, the interplay of materials and band structure, characterization methods, modeling, scaling and advanced manufacturing in thin-film compound semiconductor photovoltaics. Relevant materials include those based on chalcogenide semiconductors such as copper indium gallium (di)selenide (CIGS) and a cadmium telluride (CdTe) as well as the associated alloys, heterojunction partner materials, and buffer layers. Novel absorber materials, heterojunction partner layers, and (semi-) transparent absorber layers are also of high interest.

Topics will include:

Novel, earth abundant, and/or non-toxic materials
Absorbers with high carrier concentration
High bandgap absorbers
Carrier selective and passivating contacts
Transparent back contacts, bifacial and semitransparent devices
Tandem and multijunction devices
Thin-film modules and industry
Deposition, growth, and fabrication
Surfaces, interfaces, and extended defects
Characterization, theory, and modeling
Degradation and reliability

Invited Speakers:

Mariana Bertoni (Arizona State University, USA)
Maria Chan (Argonne National Laboratory, USA)
Mirjana Dimitrievska (Empa - Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Switzerland)
Randy Ellingson (The University of Toledo, USA)
Denis Flandre (Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium)
Maarja Grossberg (Tallin Univeristy of Technology, Estonia)
Stuart Irvine (Swansea University, United Kingdom)
Shogo Ishizuka (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan)
William Jo (EWHA Womans University, Republic of Korea)
Jan Keller (Uppsala University, Sweden)
Johan Lauwaert (Ghent University, Belgium)
Marco Nardone (Bowling Green State University, USA)
Edgardo Saucedo (Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Spain)
Phillip Schulz (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France)
Donghyeop Shin (Korea Institute of Energy Research, Republic of Korea)
James Sites (Colorado State University, USA)
Jiang Tang (Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China)
Lydia Wong (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore)
Yanfa Yan (The University of Toledo, USA)
Heayoung Yoon (The University of Utah, USA)
Andriy Zakutayev (National Renewable Energy Laboratory, USA)