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Effect of CdCl2 Treatment of CdS Films on CdTe/CdS Solar Cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2011

W. Song
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401
D. Mao
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401
L. Feng
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401
Y. Zhu
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401
M. H. Aslan
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401
R. T. Collins
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401
J. U. Trefny
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401
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Abstract

We investigated the effect of CdCl2 treatment of CdS films on the photovoltaic performance of polycrystalline CdTe/CdS solar cells. X-ray diffraction studies indicated that the diffusion of S into CdTe is qualitatively the same for CdTe/CdS films fabricated with both as-deposited and CdCl2-treated CdS. A major difference was observed in the extent of Te diffusion into CdS for the two types of CdS films. Full conversion of CdS into CdS1-yTey; was observed for films prepared with asdeposited CdS, while the formation of the ternary phase was below the detection limit for films prepared with CdCl2-treated CdS. Photoluminescence measurements confirmed this result. The difference in interdiffusion leads to differences in optical transmission of CdS films and spectral response of CdTe/CdS solar cells. An increase of 2.7 mA/cm2 in short-circuit current density was observed as a result of improved spectral response in the wavelength range of 500–600 nm for the CdCl2-treated CdS.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1996

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