Open-circuit voltage,fill factor,and efficiency of a CdS/CdTe solar cell

The dependences of the open-circuit voltage, fill factor, and efficiency of the thin-film CdS/CdTe solar cell on the resistivity ρ and carrier lifetime τ in the absorbing CdTe layer were studied. In the common case in which the uncompensated acceptor concentration and the electron lifetime in the CdTe layer are within 10¹⁵–10¹⁶ cm⁻³ and 10⁻¹⁰–10⁻⁹ s, the calculation results correspond to the achieved efficiency of the best thin-film CdS/CdTe solar cells. It was shown that, by decreasing ρ and increasing τ in the absorbing CdTe layer, the open-circuit voltage, fill factor, and efficiency can be substantially increased, with their values approaching the theoretical limit for such devices.     

Electrical properties of CdTe crystals grown by vuvg from nonstoichiometric charges

High purity CdTe crystals were grown by the vertical unseeded vapor growth technique. The growth charge composition varied between CdTe +0.1 mol% Cd and CdTe + 0.1 mol% Te. At a deviation from stoichiometry of δTe > 0.05 mol% in the charge p-type crystals with an electrical resistivity of 10⁶ Ωcm were obtained, n-type crystals were obtained with charge compositions of δTe < 0.02 mol%, with the resistivity ρ increasing with δTe from 10³ to < 10⁹ Ωcm. Maximum resistivity ∿2.10⁹ Ωcm was found when δTe ∿0.02 mol%. In all cases, the crystal composition shows a higher Cd concentration of ∿0.02 mol% relative to the charge, suggesting noncongruent sublimation of CdTe.     

Thermal Stability of Nitride-Based Diffusion Barriers for Ohmic Contacts to <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>-GaN

The use of TaN, TiN, and ZrN diffusion barriers for Ti/Al-based contacts on n-GaN (n ∼ 3 × 10¹⁷ cm⁻³) is reported. The annealing temperature (600–1,000°C) dependence of the Ohmic contact characteristics using a Ti/Al/X/Ti/Au metallization scheme, where X is TaN, TiN, or ZrN, deposited by sputtering was investigated by contact resistance measurements and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). The as-deposited contacts were rectifying and transitioned to Ohmic behavior for annealing at ≥600°C. A minimum specific contact resistivity of ∼6 × 10⁻⁵ Ω-cm⁻² was obtained after annealing over a broad range of temperatures (600–900°C for 60 s), comparable to that achieved using a conventional Ti/Al/Pt/Au scheme on the same samples. The contact morphology became considerably rougher at the high end of the annealing range. The long-term reliability of the contacts at 350°C was examined; each contact structure showed an increase in contact resistance by a factor of three to four over 24 days at 350°C in air. AES profiling showed that the aging had little effect on the contact structure of the nitride stacks.     

CdTe solar cell in a novel configuration

Polycrystalline thin‐film CdTe/CdS solar cells have been developed in a configuration in which a transparent conducting layer of indium tin oxide (ITO) has been used for the first time as a back electrical contact on p‐CdTe. Solar cells of 7·9% efficiency were developed on SnO_x:F‐coated glass substrates with a low‐temperature (<450°C) high‐vacuum evaporation method. After the CdCl₂ annealing treatment of the CdTe/CdS stack, a bromine methanol solution was used for etching the CdTe surface prior to the ITO deposition. The unique features of this solar cell with both front and back contacts being transparent and conducting are that the cell can be illuminated from either or both sides simultaneously like a ‘bi‐facial’ cell, and it can be used in tandem solar cells. The solar cells with transparent conducting oxide back contact show long‐term stable performance under accelerated test conditions. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ohmic contacts to zinc telluride and their high temperature behavior

Ohmic contacts to zinc telluride (ZnTe) have been studied as a function of operating temperature and at room temperature following annealing at 150° C for extended periods of time. Contacts investigated included Ag-diffused, electroless Au, Ag paste, Cu-graphite and electroless Cu-Au. Of these, the Cu-Au contacts improved with annealing and stabilized after 2 hr at 150° C. A copper/gold ratio of 98%/2% yielded a contact resistivity of 0.28 ohm-cm² after stabilizing. Although the other contacts were ohmic, contact resistivity and/or stability was unacceptable.     

Properties of electrical contacts on bulk and epitaxial n-type ZnO

The electrical properties of several metal contacts to n-type ZnO (0001) were studied. The ZnO samples consisted of bulk single-crystal material, epitaxial layers on sapphire grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), and polycrystalline thin films on sapphire obtained by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). Ohmic and rectifying contacts were observed dependent upon both the metal material and the ZnO surface. Ohmic contacts were characterized using the circular transmission line method (c-TLM), where contact resistivity was found to be in the range of 10⁻⁴−10⁻⁵ Ω-cm². Schottky behavior was observed using Ag contacts exhibiting varying leakage current and breakdown voltage dependent on the polarity of the ZnO surface.     

Growth of Thick Epitaxial CdTe Films by Close Space Sublimation

This paper reports on a detailed study of the development of the close space sublimation method, which has been widely used in the preparation of polycrystalline CdTe/CdS solar cells, as an epitaxial method for the growth of thick CdTe single crystal films over 200 μm on GaAs and Ge substrates for high-energy radiation detectors. The resulting microscopic growth phenomena in the process are also discussed in this paper. High-quality single crystalline CdTe thick films were prepared with x-ray rocking curves full width at half maximum (FWHM) values, which were ∼100 arcsec on Ge substrates and 300 arcsec on GaAs substrates. The quality of thick films on Ge(100) showed a substantial improvement with nucleation in a Te-rich growth environment. No Te inclusions in the CdTe films grown on GaAs(211)B and Ge(100) were observed with IR transmission imaging. Photoluminescence of CdTe/Ge shows a large reduction in the 1.44 eV defect energy bands compared with films grown on GaAs substrates. The film resistivity is on the order of 10¹⁰ Ω cm, and the film displayed some sensitivity to alpha particles.     

Study of Back Contacts for CdTe Solar Cells

ZnTe/ZnTe:Cu layer is used as a complex back contact.The parmeters of CdTe solar cells with and without the complex back contacts are compared.The effects of un-doped layer thickness,doped concentration and post-deposition annealing temperature of the complex layer on solar cells preformance are investigated.The results show that ZnTe/ZnTe:Cu layer can improve back contacts and largely increase the conversion efficiency of CdTe solar cells.Un-doped layer and post-deposition annealing of high temperature can increase open voltage.Using the complex back contact,a small CdTe cell with fill factor of 73.14% and conversion efficiency of 12.93% is obtained.     

Cadmium telluride films and solar cells

CdTe thin films for solar cell applications have been deposited by close-spaced vapor transport and by hot-wall vacuum evaporation. As-deposited films are p-type with hole densities that increase to values of 1 × 10¹⁶cm^-3with increasing substrate temperature. A variety of experimental results can be interpreted either in terms of doping by native defects such as cadmium vacancies or doping by diffusion from the graphite substrate, with evidence for self-compensation. Many CdS/CdTe/graphite solar cells have been prepared by vacuum evaporation of CdS onto thin-film CdTe, which have low values ofJ_{O} sim 10^{-9}A/cm²and high values ofJ_{SC} sim 17mA/cm². The open-circuit voltage is low at 0.48 V for CdS deposition at 300° C, but increases with decreasing CdS deposition temperature. The highest efficiency prepared to date is 6.4 percent. Tile efficiency is limited at present by the fill factor, associated with a total series resistivity in the light of the order of 10 Ω-cm². Supporting research on low-resistance contacts to p-type CdTe, grain boundary properties and passivation in p-type CdTe bicrystals and thin films, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy of junction interfaces is briefly described.     

Ohmic contacts to n-type GaN using Pd/Al metallization

Ohmic contacts to n-type GaN grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition were formed using a Pd/Al-based metallization. Ohmic contact resistances and specific contact resistances were investigated as a function of rapid thermal annealing temperature, Pd interlayer thickness, and annealing time. As-deposited Pd/AI was found to produce rectifying contacts while the metallization exhibited ohmic characteristics after annealing at temperatures as low as 400°C. A minimum contact resistance of 0.9 ohm-mm (specific contact resistance = 1.2 × 10⁻⁵ ohm-cm²) was obtained upon annealing at 650°C for 30 s. For comparison, Al and Ti/Al contacts were also investigated. Auger electron spectroscopy, secondary ion mass spectrometry, and x-ray diffraction were used to investigate metallurgical reactions.     

Application of copper thiocyanate for high open‐circuit voltages of CdTe solar cells

Copper thiocyanate (CuSCN) has proven to be a low‐cost, efficient hole‐transporting material for the emerging organic–inorganic perovskite solar cells. Herein, we report that CuSCN can also be applied to CdTe thin‐film solar cells to achieve high open‐circuit voltages (V_OCs). By optimizing the thickness of the thermally evaporated CuSCN films, CdTe cells fabricated by close space sublimation in the superstrate configuration have achieved V_OCs as high as 872 mV, which is about 20–25 mV higher than the highest V_OC for the reference cells using the standard Cu/Au back contacts. CuSCN is a wide bandgap p‐type conductor with a conduction band higher than that of CdTe, leading to a conduction band offset that reflects electrons in CdTe, partially explaining the improved V_OCs. However, due to the low conductivity of CuSCN, CdTe cells using CuSCN/Au back contacts exhibited slightly lower fill factors than the cells using Cu/Au back contacts. With optimized CdS:O window layers, the power conversion efficiency of the best CdTe cell, using CuSCN/Au back contact, is 14.7%: slightly lower than that of the best cell (15.2%) using Cu/Au back contact. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ohmic contact behaviour of Co/C/4H-SiC structures

The electrical contact properties of Co/4H-SiC structures are investigated.A carbon interfacial layer between a Co film and SiC is used to improve the Ohmic contact properties significantly.The C film is deposited prior to Co film deposition on SiC using DC sputtering.The high quality Ohmic contact and specific contact resistivity of 2.30×10^-6Ω·cm² are obtained for Co/C/SiC structures after two-step annealing at 500℃for 10 min and 1050℃for 3 min.The physical properties of the contacts are examined by using XRD.The results indicate that the Co-based metal contacts have better structural stability of silicide phases formed after the high temperature annealing and carbon-enriched layer is produced below the contact,playing a key role in forming an Ohmic contact through the reduction of effective Schottky barrier height for the transport of electrons.The thermal stability of Au/Co/C/SiC Ohmic contacts is investigated.The contacts remain Ohmic on doped n-type(2.8×10¹⁸ cm^-3) 4H-SiC after thermal aging treatment at 500℃for 20 h.     

Effect of the concentration of uncompensated impurities on the properties of CdTe-based X- and γ-ray detectors

Measurements of the ⁵⁵Fe-isotope emission spectra and the photosensitivity of CdTe detectors with a Schottky diode, and also the temperature dependence of the resistivity of a CdTe crystal ((2–3) × 10⁹ Ωcm at 300 K) have been used to determine the concentration of uncompensated donors (1–3) × 10¹² cm⁻³. Similar measurements performed for Cd_0.9Zn_0.1Te crystals with the resistivity (3–5) × 10¹⁰ Ω cm at 300 K have shown that the concentration of uncompensated donors in this case is lower by approximately four orders of magnitude. The results of calculations show that, due to such a significant decrease in the concentration of uncompensated donors, the efficiency of X- and γ-ray radiation detection in the photon energy range 59 to 662 keV can decrease by one-three orders of magnitude (depending on the photon energy and the lifetime of charge carriers in the space-charge region). The results obtained account for the apparent poor detecting properties of the Cd_0.9Zn_0.1Te detectors.     

太阳电池中CdS薄膜的制备及其性能的研究

分别采用化学池沉积(CBD)和真空蒸发法,在三种衬底(玻片、ITO玻片、SnO2玻片)上沉积CdS薄膜,并利用扫描电镜(SEM)、透射光谱、X射线衍射(XRD)等方法对沉积膜进行了测试分析,同时阐述了两种不同方法下CdS膜的生长沉积机制。     

Shallow junction formation on p-like CdTe crystals by indium diffusion using excimer laser annealing

Excimer laser annealing has been investigated to form a shallow junction on p-like CdTe crystals by indium diffusion. By evaporating a thin layer of indium on the CdTe crystals in a physical vapor deposition system without heating the crystals, and then irradiating them with an excimer laser, we could produce a highly conductive thin surface layer on the crystal. These layers showed n-type conductivity in Hall measurements, and an increase on the donor-acceptor pair band, possibly due to indium incorporation, was also observed in the photoluminescent spectrum. The best value of resistivity, carrier concentration and electron mobility of the layer thus obtained was 5 10⁻³ cm, 9 10¹⁸ cm⁻³, and 138 cm²/Vs, respectively. The carrier transport properties of the shallow p-n junction formed were then investigated by means of current-voltage measurements at different temperatures. Furthermore, applicability of this junction in a gamma-ray detector was also investigated.     

Breakdown Voltage Enhancement of AlGaN/GaN High-Electron-Mobility Transistors via Selective-Area Growth for Ohmic Contacts over Ion Implantation

Selective-area growth (SAG) based on plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy (PAMBE) was shown to facilitate improvement of Ohmic contacts and direct-current (DC) characteristics for GaN-based field-effect transistors (FETs) over the widely accepted ion-implantation technique. Twofold improvements in breakdown voltage were also demonstrated for samples grown on both sapphire and silicon substrates. An AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) fabricated with PAMBE-SAG exhibited a low specific contact resistivity of 5.86 × 10⁻⁷ Ω cm², peak drain current of 420 mA/mm, and high breakdown voltage of 77 V. These results demonstrate that PAMBE-SAG is suited to fabricating HEMTs for high-power applications.     

Very low resistance ohmic contacts to n-GaN

Ohmic contacts with low resistance are fabricated on n-GaN films using Al/Ti bilayer metallization. GaN films used are 0.3 μm thick layers with carrier concentrations of 1 × 10¹⁹ cm⁻³ grown on the c-plane sapphire by ion-removed electron cyclotron resonance molecular beam epitaxy. The lowest value for the specific contact resistivity (ρ_c) of 1.2×10⁻⁸ Ω·cm² was obtained with furnace annealing at 500°C for 60 min. This result shows the effectiveness of high carrier concentration GaN layers and the low temperature annealing for the realization of low resistance ohmic contacts. Sputtering Auger electron spectroscopy analysis reveals that Al diffuses into Ti layer and comes into contact with the GaN surface.     

CdTe/ZnTe/GaAs Heterostructures for Single-Crystal CdTe Solar Cells

Amorphous CdS/single-crystal CdTe solar cells were grown on GaAs substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. The structures of the films and the electrical properties of the devices were characterized. Highly conducting arsenic-doped ZnTe was grown on GaAs(100) substrates as the buffer layer for CdTe growth. By use of a ～30-nm ZnTe buffer layer, a p-CdTe film with a doping level of ～5×10¹⁶ cm^?3 was achieved. The hole concentration of p-CdTe increased with increasing VI/II ratio under a high As concentration during growth. From temperature-dependent Hall transport measurements, the ionization energy of the As acceptor in the p-CdTe was estimated to be approximately 88 meV. Ohmic behavior of the junctions between CdTe/ZnTe and ZnTe/GaAs was also confirmed. The solar cell performance of this structure, for example an open circuit voltage of 0.63 V, could be improved if the crystal quality of the CdTe film is optimized and the dislocation density of the CdTe film is minimized.     

Copper (I) Oxide (Cu2O) based back contact for p‐i‐n CdTe solar cells

In this paper a promising solution for the notorious problem of manufacturing a stable low ohmic back contact of a CdTe thin film superstrate solar cell is presented without using elemental copper. Instead we have used a Cu₂O layer inserted between the CdTe absorber and metal contact (Au). In contrast to the barrier free band alignment gained by using the transitivity rules, XPS measurements show a barrier in the valence band of the Cu₂O layers directly after deposition, which results in a low performing JV curve. The contact can be improved by a short thermal treatment resulting in efficiencies superior to copper based contacts for standard CdS/CdTe hetero junction solar cells prepared on commercial glass/FTO substrates. By replacing the CdS window layer with a CdS:O buffer layer efficiencies of >15% could be achieved. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optimization of physical properties of vacuum evaporated CdTe thin films with the application of thermal treatment for solar cells

This paper reports the optimization of physical properties of cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin films with the application of thermal treatment. The films of thickness 650 nm were deposited on glass and indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass substrates employing vacuum evaporation followed by thermal annealing in the temperature range 250–450 °C. The films were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), source meter and atomic force microscopy (AFM) for structural, electrical and surface topographical properties respectively. The X-ray diffraction patterns reveal that films are polycrystalline with predominant zinc-blende structure having preferred reflection (111). The structural parameters are calculated and discussed in detail. The current–voltage characteristics show Ohmic behavior and the electrical conductivity is found to increase with annealing treatment. The AFM studies show that the surface roughness of films is observed to increase with annealing. The experimental results reveal that the thermal annealing plays an important role to enhance the physical properties of CdTe thin films and annealed films may be used as absorber layer in CdTe/CdS solar cells.