Photovoltaic properties of cadmium-telluride/langmuir-film solar cells

We report the properties of metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) solar cells based on n-type CdTe and an anthracene derivative deposited by the Langmuir-Blodgett technique. The incorporation of the organic insulating layer between a gold electrode and the CdTe is found to increase both the effective barrier height of the device measured in the dark and also the open-circuit voltage measured under illumination conditions. The Langmuir-Blodgett deposition technique has allowed us to investigate, in some detail, the dependence of these characteristics on the thickness of the insulating layer. The optimum efficiency of our devices occurs when theorganic film thickness is approximately 2.4nm.