Mercury telluride as an ohmic contact to efficient thin film cadmium telluride solar cells

The use of contact materials with a higher work function than p-CdTe is investigated using p-HgTe as the contact material. The deposition of p-HgTe on p-CdTe is carried out by the direct combination of the elemental vapors in a gas-flow system and by the close-spaced sublimation (CSS) technique. The process parameters in the direct combination technique are more readily controlled than those in the CSS technique. The p-HgTe/p-CdTe contact resistance was found to be very similar to the Au/p-CdTe contact resistance.