Title :
ZnTe:Cu film properties and their impact on CdS/CdTe devices
Author :
Faulkner, B.R. ; Burst, James M. ; Ohno, T.R. ; Perkins, Craig L. ; To, Bobby ; Gessert, Timothy A.
Author_Institution :
Colorado Sch. of Mines, Golden, CO, USA
Abstract :
A back contact containing a sputtered ZnTe:Cu interface layer can produce high-performing thin-film CdS/CdTe photovoltaic devices. We have found that small changes in ZnTe:Cu sputtering target fabrication processes affect the properties of the ZnTe:Cu films, which affect the performance of the resulting devices. Different target manufacturing techniques were investigated to study changes in ZnTe:Cu film properties and how they impact device performance. Compositional, optical, and electrical properties of films made from different target recipes were studied. It was found that the amount of oxygen in the targets and films is strongly linked to changes in material properties, especially in band tailing and optical bandgap.
Keywords :
II-VI semiconductors; cadmium compounds; energy gap; optical constants; semiconductor thin films; solar cells; sputtered coatings; thin film devices; wide band gap semiconductors; zinc compounds; CdS-CdTe; ZnTe:Cu; back contact; band tailing; electrical properties; film properties; high-performing thin-film photovoltaic devices; interface layer; material properties; optical bandgap; optical properties; sputtering target fabrication processes; target manufacturing techniques; Integrated optics; Magnetosphere; Optical fiber communication; Optical films; Optical variables measurement; Substrates;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC), 2014 IEEE 40th
Conference_Location :
Denver, CO
DOI :
10.1109/PVSC.2014.6925392
