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Reaction engineering of CVD methylammonium bismuth iodide layers for photovoltaic applications

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2019

Dominik Stümmler ,
Simon Sanders ,
Felix Gerstenberger ,
Pascal Pfeiffer ,
Gintautas Simkus ,
Peter K. Baumann ,
Michael Heuken ,
Andrei Vescan  and
Holger Kalisch
Dominik Stümmler*
Affiliation:
Compound Semiconductor Technology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen 52074, Germany
Simon Sanders
Affiliation:
Compound Semiconductor Technology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen 52074, Germany
Felix Gerstenberger
Affiliation:
Compound Semiconductor Technology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen 52074, Germany
Pascal Pfeiffer
Affiliation:
Compound Semiconductor Technology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen 52074, Germany
Gintautas Simkus
Affiliation:
Compound Semiconductor Technology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen 52074, Germany; and AIXTRON SE, Herzogenrath 52134, Germany
Peter K. Baumann
Affiliation:
APEVA SE, Herzogenrath 52134, Germany
Michael Heuken
Affiliation:
Compound Semiconductor Technology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen 52074, Germany; and AIXTRON SE, Herzogenrath 52134, Germany
Andrei Vescan
Affiliation:
Compound Semiconductor Technology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen 52074, Germany
Holger Kalisch
Affiliation:
Compound Semiconductor Technology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen 52074, Germany
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: dominik.stuemmler@cst.rwth-aachen.de
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Abstract

In the past years, numerous alternative cations to replace Pb2+ in perovskite solar cells have been investigated. In terms of toxicity and chemical stability, methylammonium bismuth iodide [(CH3NH3)3Bi2I9 or MBI] containing the Bi3+ cation has been considered as a promising material. However, fabrication of coherent MBI films remains challenging. Recently, significant progress has been achieved by using vapor deposition processes. Compared with solution-processed ones, vapor-deposited MBI solar cells show higher fill factors and efficiencies. In this work, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of MBI is investigated. Employing nitrogen as carrier gas, the precursors bismuth iodide (BiI3) and methylammonium iodide (MAI) are deposited sequentially over several cycles and form MBI during the process. In order to form dense and coherent layers, the lengths of the deposition cycles as well as the substrate temperature have been optimized. Scanning electron microscopy reveals the strong influence of both parameters on growth and crystal properties. Optimized films of MBI integrated into solar cells show that CVD of MBI is a promising method for fabricating large-area solar cells.

Keywords

chemical vapor deposition (CVD) (deposition)photovoltaicsurface reaction

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Type
Invited Paper
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 34 , Issue 4 , 28 February 2019 , pp. 608 - 615
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2019 

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