Chemical and electrical properties of ZnTe based solar cells

Author

Fang, F. ; McCandless, B.E. ; Opila, R.L.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Mater. Sci. & Eng., Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA

fYear

2009

fDate

7-12 June 2009

Abstract

ZnTe is a candidate low-cost II-VI absorber material of wide band gap (E_G = 2.24 eV) with potential of enhanced open circuit voltage and application for tandem cells. Fundamental chemical and electronic properties related to the processing of ZnTe-based devices are demonstrated. We used x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and photoemission spectroscopy to analyze film structure, morphology, chemical composition and valence band structure of ZnTe/ZnSe films deposited sequential close space sublimation. Specifically, interfacial Se oxide was observed and caused band offsets apparent in the heterojunction band energy diagram. Processing steps to mitigate oxidation yielded the best cells.

Keywords

II-VI semiconductors; X-ray diffraction; chemical analysis; crystal morphology; photoemission; scanning electron microscopy; solar absorber-convertors; solar cells; sublimation; thin films; wide band gap semiconductors; zinc compounds; II-VI absorber material; X-ray diffraction; ZnTe-ZnSe; chemical composition; chemical properties; electrical properties; electron volt energy 2.24 eV; film structure; heterojunction band energy diagram; morphology; open circuit voltage; photoemission spectroscopy; scanning electron microscopy; sequential close space sublimation; solar cells; valence band structure; wide band gap; Chemical analysis; Chemical processes; Circuits; Photoelectricity; Photovoltaic cells; Scanning electron microscopy; Voltage; Wideband; X-ray diffraction; Zinc compounds;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2009 34th IEEE

Conference_Location

Philadelphia, PA

ISSN

0160-8371

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-2949-3

Electronic_ISBN

0160-8371

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.2009.5411244

Filename

5411244