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Cadmium selenide (CdSe) thin films were grown on borosilicate glass substrates using the RF magnetron sputtering method. In this study, CdSe thin film was deposited at a deposition temperature in the range of 25 °C to 400 °C. The influence of deposition or growth temperature on the structural, morphological, and opto-electrical properties of CdSe films was investigated elaborately to achieve a good-quality window layer for solar-cell applications. The crystal structure, surface morphology, and opto-electrical characteristics of sputtered CdSe films were determined using X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), UV–Vis spectrophotometry, and Hall effect measurement, respectively. The XRD results revealed the polycrystalline nature of CdSe, with a hexagonal structure having a strong preferential orientation toward the (002) plane. As evident from the FESEM images, the average grain size and surface morphology of the films were dependent on deposition temperatures. The carrier concentration was obtained as 1014 cm−3. The band gap in the range of 1.65–1.79 eV was found. The explored results suggested that sputtered CdSe thin film deposited at 300 °C has the potential to be used as a window layer in solar cells.

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In this study, Solar Cell Capacitance Simulator (SCAPS-1D) is utilized to examine the properties of cadmium telluride (CdTe) based solar cell. The key aim of this study is to explore the prospects of enhancing the efficiency of CdTe solar cells by adding a high resistivity transparent (HRT) layer to the conventional cell structure. For that purpose, novel HRT layer structures are suggested in CdTe solar cells between a cadmium sulfide (CdS) window layer and transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layer. Simulation results presented in this paper are from four proposed structures with three different HRT materials compared to the conventional design. The optimal parameters that offer the optimum functionality of the conventional design (SnO2/CdS/CdTe/MoTe2), with and without the HRT layer, are determined. Obtained results validate an enhancement in efficiency of the solar cell with Zn2SO4 as the HRT layer due to lower recombination loss and barrier height at the back contact region. The suggested cell with Zn2SO4 demonstrates an efficiency of 17.61% (Voc = 0.92 V, Jsc = 25.41 mA/cm2, FF = 75.35), with only 20 nm HRT layer and 25 nm CdS as a window layer. In the meantime, the reference cell (no HRT layer) depicts an efficiency of 17.01% with 4000 nm thick CdTe as an absorber layer. However, the normalized efficiency of the suggested cells decreases linearly with increased temperature.

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