Title :
Vapor chloride treatment studies of CdTe/CdS solar cells
Author :
Zhao, H. ; Palekis, V. ; Selvaraj, P. ; Morel, D.L. ; Ferekides, C.S.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. Eng., Univ. of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
Abstract :
The most commonly used processing step for the fabrication of CdTe thin film solar cells is a heat treatment in the presence of CdCI2. This paper discusses results on the effect of a vapor CdCI2 heat treatment on the characteristics of thin film CdTe/CdS solar cells. The heat treatment was carried out in three different ambient environments, He, O2, and H2, and over a wide range of temperatures. Best solar cell performance to-date was achieved for cells heat-treated in the presence of O2. Solar cells heat-treated in He and H2 exhibited lower ff´s and Voc´s respectively. The process was optimized for high throughput and demonstrated state of the art Voc´s and ffs for short annealing times.
Keywords :
II-VI semiconductors; annealing; cadmium compounds; helium; hydrogen; oxygen; semiconductor device measurement; solar cells; CdCl2; CdTe-CdS; CdTe/CdS solar cells; H2; He; O2; annealing; heat treatment; vapor chloride treatment; Fabrication; Heat treatment; Helium; Hydrogen; Lead compounds; Photovoltaic cells; Solar heating; Surface treatment; Temperature control; Transistors;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2002. Conference Record of the Twenty-Ninth IEEE
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-7471-1
DOI :
10.1109/PVSC.2002.1190653
