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Influence of Deposition Parameters on the Morphology of CdTe Films and on the Performance of CdTe Solar Cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Mathias Hädrich ,
Sebastian Mack ,
Heinrich Metzner ,
Udo Reislöhner  and
Wolfgang Witthuhn
Mathias Hädrich
Affiliation:
mathias.haedrich@uni-jena.de, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Institut für Festkörperphysik, Max-Wien-Platz 1, Jena, 07743, Germany, +49-3641-947302
Sebastian Mack
Affiliation:
sebastian.mack@uni-jena.de, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Institut für Festkörperphysik, Max-Wien-Platz 1, Jena, 07743, Germany
Heinrich Metzner
Affiliation:
metzner@pinet.uni-jena.de, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Institut für Festkörperphysik, Max-Wien-Platz 1, Jena, 07743, Germany
Udo Reislöhner
Affiliation:
reis@pinet.uni-jena.de, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Institut für Festkörperphysik, Max-Wien-Platz 1, Jena, 07743, Germany
Wolfgang Witthuhn
Affiliation:
wolfgang.witthuhn@uni-jena.de, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Institut für Festkörperphysik, Max-Wien-Platz 1, Jena, 07743, Germany
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Abstract

For industrial CdTe solar cell production, thin, dense and pinhole-free films have to be deposited at high rates. Using a close-to-industrial close space sublimation (CSS) process, we deposited CdTe films at different temperatures and rates. The morphology of these films was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD). The measurements show the size, size distribution and orientation of the grains to strongly depend on deposition temperature and rate. A suitable combination of these parameters yields large grains of about 3 microns diameter even for deposition temperatures below 750 K and at high deposition rates of 3 microns per minute. The interplay of CdTe layer morphology and solar cell performance is elucidated employing a TCO-CdS-CdTe-Mo film sequence for complete solar cells.

Keywords

thin filmphotovoltaicmorphology
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1012: Symposium Y – Thin-Film Compound Semiconductor Photovoltaics-2007 , 2007 , 1012-Y12-22
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2007

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