Fabrication of high efficiency CdTe thin film solar cells using electrodeposition

Author

Song, W. ; Mao, D. ; Zhu, Y. ; Tang, J. ; Trefny, J.U.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Phys., Colorado Sch. of Mines, Golden, CO, USA

fYear

1996

fDate

13-17 May 1996

Firstpage

873

Lastpage

876

Abstract

The influences of CdTe and CdS film thicknesses and CdS pre-treatment on CdTe solar cell performances were investigated. The CdTe film thickness was varied from 2.2 to 5.3 μm. The CdS film thickness was varied from 700 Å to 2500 Å. The highest efficiencies were obtained with a CdTe thickness of 3.4 μm and a CdS thickness of 1500 Å. An increase of 2.7 mA/cm² in J_sc was observed as a result of CdCl₂ treatment of CdS, resulting from an improved spectral response in the wavelength range of 500-600 nm. CdCl₂ treatment of CdS affects CdTe-CdS interdiffusion and leads to differences in optical transmission of CdS films. X-ray diffraction studies indicated the full conversion of CdS into CdS_1-yTe_y ternary phase for films prepared with as-deposited CdS and very low concentration of CdS_1-yTe _y for films prepared with CdCl₂-treated CdS

Keywords

II-VI semiconductors; X-ray diffraction; cadmium compounds; chemical interdiffusion; light transmission; semiconductor materials; semiconductor thin films; solar cells; 2.2 to 5.3 mum; 500 to 600 nm; 700 to 2500 A; CdCl₂; CdS film thickness; CdTe film thickness; CdTe-CdS; CdTe-CdS interdiffusion; CdTe/CdS thin film solar cells; X-ray diffraction studies; high efficiency; improved spectral response; optical transmission; solar cell performances; solar cells fabrication; ternary phase; Annealing; Anodes; Coatings; Electrodes; Fabrication; Optical films; Performance evaluation; Photovoltaic cells; Transistors; X-ray diffraction;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1996., Conference Record of the Twenty Fifth IEEE

Conference_Location

Washington, DC

ISSN

0160-8371

Print_ISBN

0-7803-3166-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.1996.564267

Filename

564267