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Recent Results for All-Dry-Processed CdTe/CdS Solar Cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

Ramesh Dhere ,
Joel Duenow ,
Anna Duda ,
Stephen Glynn ,
Jian Li ,
Wyatt K. Metzger ,
Helio Moutinho  and
Timothy Gessert
Ramesh Dhere
Affiliation:
ramesh_dhere@nrel.gov, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 1617 Cole Blvd., Golden, Colorado, 80401, United States, 303-384-6571, 303-384-7600
Joel Duenow
Affiliation:
joel_duenow@nrel.gov, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado, United States
Anna Duda
Affiliation:
anna_duda@nrel.gov, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado, United States
Stephen Glynn
Affiliation:
Stephen.Glynn@nrel.gov, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado, United States
Jian Li
Affiliation:
jian_li@nrel.gov, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado, United States
Wyatt K. Metzger
Affiliation:
wyatt_metzger@nrel.gov, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado, United States
Helio Moutinho
Affiliation:
helio_moutinho@nrel.gov, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Measurements & Characterization, Golden, Colorado, United States
Timothy Gessert
Affiliation:
tim_gessert@nrel.gov, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado, United States
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Abstract

Several wet-processing steps are used in fabricating high-efficiency CdTe/CdS solar cells. These steps can hinder in-line processing; thus, developing an all-dry processing option is attractive for a manufacturing-friendly process. In this study, we systematically modified the baseline process used in our laboratory to replace CdS deposited by chemical-bath deposition (CBD) with sputter-deposited CdS and Cu-doped graphite paste back-contact with Cu-doped ZnTe deposited by radio-frequency sputtering. In addition to CdTe deposited by close-spaced sublimation, we also used conventionally evaporated CdTe. The results show that replacing only CBD CdS with oxygenated CdS deposited by sputtering produces devices with performance comparable to baseline devices if the front bilayer SnO2 is replaced by a Cd2SnO4/ZnSnO alloy. Replacing the graphite paste back-contact with sputter-deposited Cu-doped ZnTe resulted in device performance comparable to baseline devices. Incorporating both dry processing steps gave performance comparable to the devices with sputtered CdS with a SnO2 front contact. We used capacitance-voltage and minority-carrier lifetime measurements to analyze the factors affecting device performance and we present the results here.

Keywords

photovoltaicsemiconductingII-VI
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1165: Symposium M – Thin-Film Compound Semiconductor Photovoltaics–2009 , 2009 , 1165-M02-08
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2009

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