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Cu K-edge EXAFS Studies Of CdCl2 Effects On CdTe Solar Cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Xiangxin Liu ,
Alvin D. Compaan  and
Jeff Terry
Xiangxin Liu
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Univ. of Toledo, Toledo, OH 43606
Alvin D. Compaan
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Univ. of Toledo, Toledo, OH 43606
Jeff Terry
Affiliation:
Department of Biological, Chemical, and Physical Sciences, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago IL 60616 Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame IN 46556
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Abstract

The highest performance CdS/CdTe thin film solar cells are generally completed with a Cucontaining back contact. The copper appears to be critical for achieving heavy p-type doping of the CdTe at the contact to permit the formation of a low resistance contact. In previous extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) work we have inferred that most of the Cu in CdTe films resides as Cu2O at the boundaries of CdTe grains in films that have received a chloride treatment in the presence of oxygen, a critical step needed to improve the performance of all CdTe thin-film cells. This has suggested a mechanism for grain boundary passivation in thinfilm CdTe solar cells. We believe most of the diffused Cu decorates grain boundaries as oxides, consistent with the low doping densities typically observed in CdTe solar cells. The significance for grain boundary passivation will be discussed. We also find evidence that the grain-boundary Cu2O in CdCl2 treated CdTe films is unstable and tends to transform to CuO under some stress conditions.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 865: Symposium F – Thin-Film Compound Semiconductor Photovoltaics , 2005 , F4.2
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2005

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