Cadmium sulfide thin films deposited by close spaced sublimation and cadmium sulfide/cadmium telluride solar cells

One of the applications of CdS films is as a window layer in CdTe and Cu(In,Ga);CdS films have been deposited by the close-spaced sublimation technique. The influence of the main process parameters, the substrate and source temperatures, and the ambient in the deposition chamber has been investigated. As-deposited films have been subjected to heat treatments in ;It was found that as deposited CdS films have a hexagonal structure independent of the process parameters used. The presence of a CdO phase was detected in the samples grown with the highest oxygen concentration in the ambient. The resistivity of CdS films is controlled by intergrain barriers. Photoluminescence measurements showed the presence of oxygen-acceptor transition and a wide variation in the intensity of deep emission bands. The variation in the intensities was correlated with the variation in the deposition and annealing conditions. However, no correlation was found between the PL intensities of defect bands and cell performance.;CdS/CdTe junctions have been fabricated using standard deposition and postgrowth techniques developed in the USF solar cells laboratory. All cells have been characterized by light and dark current-voltage (I-V) measurements. Based on the I-V results samples were selected for Quantum Efficiency (QE), and I-V-T measurements.;The goal of this project was to understand what properties of CdS are important for the formation of a good electrical CdS/CdTe junction and high efficiency solar cells. It was found that passivation of the CdS/CdTe interface is essential to obtain efficient devices. The passivation can be achieved by promoting mixing at the interface or by performing a heat treatment of the CdS surface prior to the CdTe deposition. For the latter case no noticeable intermixing at the CdS/CdTe interface occurs. Therefore, it is suggested that the CdS/CdTe interface is the most critical part of the device and the condition of the CdS surface just before CdTe deposition is one of the factors controlling its formation.;To date, the best device has shown an efficiency of 15.1% as verified at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. It is the highest efficiency reported for an all CSS fabricated solar cell. The best all CSS device fabricated on LOF glass substrate demonstrated an efficiency of 14.3%, which is a new record for the USF solar cell laboratory.