Photovoltaics of ordered CdTe/CdS nanoarrays

Author

Zubia, David ; Romo, Luis ; Cruz-Campa, Jose ; Aguirre, Brandon ; McClure, John

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Univ. of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX, USA

fYear

2009

fDate

7-12 June 2009

Abstract

Cadmium telluride (CdTe) is a good absorber layer for solar cells with a predicted efficiency of 29% however the highest reported efficiency is only <17% due to various loss mechanisms. One particular loss is attributed to non-uniformity in grain shape and size by Karpov. Simulation of Karpov´s model yields counter-intuitive insight that highlights how empirical data can lead researchers to wrong conclusions. A method to grow ordered arrays of ZnTe/CdTe heterostructures is presented. The method has potential for probing the electronic characteristics of individual photodiodes at the granular level.

Keywords

II-VI semiconductors; cadmium compounds; granular materials; nanofabrication; nanostructured materials; photodiodes; semiconductor growth; semiconductor heterojunctions; solar cells; vapour deposition; wide band gap semiconductors; zinc compounds; CdTe-CdS; CdTe-CdS-ITO-SiO₂; SiO₂; ZnTe-CdTe-CdS; absorber layer; electronic characteristics; grain shape; grain size; granular level; heterostructures; ordered nanoarrays; photodiodes; photovoltaics; solar cells; Cadmium compounds; Circuit simulation; Diodes; Electric variables; Inorganic materials; Photodiodes; Photonic band gap; Photovoltaic cells; Shape; 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.2009.5411523

Filename

5411523