Solution-grown CdS layers for polycrystalline-thin-film solar cells

Author

Dhere, Neelkanth G. ; Waterhouse, Debbie L. ; Sundaram, Kalpathy B. ; Melendez, Orlando ; Parikh, Nalin R. ; Patnaik, Bijoy K.

Author_Institution

Florida Solar Energy Center, Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

fYear

1993

fDate

10-14 May 1993

Firstpage

566

Lastpage

571

Abstract

Solution growth of CdS layers was investigated for use as heterojunction partner in CuInSe₂ and CdTe polycrystalline-thin-film solar cells. Morphological and optical properties improved significantly when buffer solution was used. Cadmium acetate was found to be preferable as a cadmium ion source as compared to cadmium chloride. Optimum conditions for slow ion-by-ion growth on SnO₂:F coated glass substrates of conformal CdS 500-2600 Å thick layers with direct bandgap of ~2.40 eV were cadmium salt concentration Q in the range 0.001-0.003 M, thiourea concentration 5×Q, buffer solution concentration 20×Q, pH in the range of 9.0-9.5, deposition temperature of 80-85°C and deposition time of 13-30 min. Heterogeneous growth on the substrate was found to depend critically on the availability of nucleation sites

Keywords

II-VI semiconductors; cadmium compounds; crystal growth from solution; crystal morphology; p-n heterojunctions; semiconductor growth; semiconductor thin films; solar cells; substrates; tin compounds; 13 to 30 min; 500 to 2600 A; 80 to 85 C; CdS; CdS-CdTe; CdS-CuInSe₂; CdTe; CuInSe₂; SnO₂:F; SnO₂:F coated glass substrates; buffer solution; buffer solution concentration; cadmium acetate; cadmium ion source; cadmium salt concentration; deposition temperature; direct bandgap; heterogeneous growth; heterojunction solar cells; morphological properties; nucleation sites; optical properties; pH range; polycrystalline-thin-film solar cells; slow ion-by-ion growth; solution-grown CdS layers; thiourea concentration; Cadmium compounds; Glass; Heterojunctions; Optical buffering; Optical films; Particle beam optics; Photovoltaic cells; Substrates; Temperature; Transistors;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1993., Conference Record of the Twenty Third IEEE

Conference_Location

Louisville, KY

Print_ISBN

0-7803-1220-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.1993.347032

Filename

347032