Significant improvements in CdTe/CdS solar cell efficiency are commonly observed as a result of a postdeposition CdCl2 dip followed by a 400 °C heat treatment during cell processing which increases CdTe grain size. In this paper, we investigate the electronic mechanisms responsible for CdCl2-induced improvement in cell performance along with possible performance-limiting defects resulting from this process in molecular-beam epitaxy-grown polycrystalline CdTe/CdS solar cells. Current density-voltage-temperature (J-V-T) analysis revealed that the CdCl2 treatment changes the dominant current transport mechanism from interface recombination/tunneling to depletion region recombination, suggesting a decrease in the density and dominance of interface states due to the CdCl2 treatment. It is shown that the change in transport mechanism is associated with (a) an increase in heterojunction barrier height from 0.56 to 0.85 eV, (b) a decrease in dark leakage current from 4.7×10−7 A/cm2 to 2.6×10−9 A/cm2 and, (c) an increase in cell Voc from 385 to 720 mV. The CdCl2 also improved the optical response of the cell. Substantial increases in the surface photovoltage and quantum efficiency accompanied by a decrease in the bias dependence of the spectral response in the CdCl2-treated structures indicate that the CdCl2 treatment improves carrier collection from the bulk as well as across the heterointerface. However, deep level transient spectroscopy measurements detected a hole trap within the CdTe depletion region of the CdCl2-treated devices at Ev + 0.64 eV which is attributed to the formation of VCd-related defects during the annealing process after the CdCl2 dip. J-V-T analysis demonstrated that this trap is the probable source of dominant recombination in the CdCl2-treated cells. An inverse correlation was found between the density of the Ev + 0.64 eV trap and cell Voc, suggesting that the heat treatment with CdCl2 may eventually limit the CdTe/CdS cell performance unless the formation of this defect complex is controlled or eliminated.

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The effects of photon recycling are examined in a general, fully numerical, two-dimensional model accounting for the detailed geometry of the device and the spectral content of the recombined excess carriers. The primary component of this model is a three-dimensional ray tracing algorithm which encompasses effects such as wavelength dependent absorption and index of refraction, the angular dependence of transmissivity between layers in a heterostructure device, and multiple reflections within a device. This ray tracing preprocessing step is used to map all of the possible trajectories and absorption of various wavelengths of emitted light from each originating node within the device. These data are integrated into a macroscopic device simulator to determine the spatial and temporal location of the reabsorbed radiation within the geometry of the device. By incorporating the ray tracer results with the total quantity and spectral content of recombined carriers at each node within the simulation, the recycled generation rate can be obtained. To demonstrate the use of this model, the effects of photon recycling on the carrier lifetime in an InP/InGaAs double heterostructure photodiode are presented. Good agreement between the experimentally measured lifetime and that predicted using photon recycling is obtained.

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Forced-flow thermal-gradient chemical vapor infiltration (FCVI) has demonstrated excellent potential for fabrication of high strength, high toughness ceramic composites. Extension of this process to large and complex shapes is facilitated by use of a computer model to optimize process conditions and hardware for rapid, uniform infiltration.A 3-D model has been developed using a “finite volume” formulation. A steady-state solution for heat conduction and Darcy's law permeation produces temperature and gas flow distributions within the fiber preform. These are used to generated matrix deposition rates within each volume element. By “marching” through time, a complete simulation of the densification process can be obtained.The model is demonstrated for a FCVI system with cylindrical symmetry and compared to experimental results obtained at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The model results suggest a self-optimizing feature of the force flow/thermal gradient CVI process that produces uniform density in the final composite over a range of infiltration conditions. This matches experimental observation where good uniformity has been achieved over a wide range of gas flows, pressure and temperature.

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