Comparative study of CdTe thin film solar cells with wet and dry CdCl2 treatment process

In this work, CdTe films were prepared by r.f. magnetron sputtering. Influence of conventional wet and dry CdCl₂ treatments on the structural and optical properties of CdTe films were investigated by field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), x-ray diffraction (XRD), and UV-Visible spectrophotometer. Also, CdS/CdTe thin film solar cells were fabricated by all sputtering process and the cell characteristics were studied. The as-deposited CdTe thin films had a zincblende structure highly oriented with the (111) direction parallel to the substrate surface. The CdTe films lose their preferred orientation and become polycrystalline by heat treatment with dry CdCl₂ treatment. The wet CdCl₂ treatment exhibited a similar trend, but is less effective for grain growth than dry CdCl₂ treatment. The photovoltaic properties of the CdS/CdTe solar cell were considerably improved with the increase in the annealing temperature, which was caused by the increase of grain size in CdTe films. However, the wet CdCl₂ process was not suitable for reproducible fabrication.