LASER-DRIVEN PHYSICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION FOR THIN-FILM CdTe SOLAR CELLS

Compaan, A.; Bhat, A.

doi:10.1080/01425919208909759

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…White CdCl 2 powder is clearly visible on the dark surface of CdTe after this process. Some groups have alternatively deposited a layer of CdCl 2 by methods such as vacuum evaporation and laser ablation for the treatment of both CdS and CdTe layers [12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. In the case of electrodeposition, addition of CdCl 2 into the electrolytic bath is another method of CdCl 2 treatment [19].…”

Section: Summary Of Reported Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This work has resulted in ~17.0%-20.4% lab-scale efficiency [1][2][3][4][5] with 16.1% module efficiency [6], and First Solar Company in the US, is currently leading the PV manufacturing of thin film CdTe solar panels. In CdTe solar cell research and development programme, "CdCl 2 treatment" is a key step for a drastic improvement of the solar to electric conversion efficiency.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Review of the CdCl2 Treatment Used in CdS/CdTe Thin Film Solar Cell Development and New Evidence towards Improved Understanding

2014

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Cadmium chloride treatment is a key processing step identified in the late 1970s to drastically improve the solar to electric conversion efficiency of CdS/CdTe thin film solar cells. Although a large body of experimental results are available to date, this process is yet to be understood even after three decades of research. This paper reviews the experimental results available, presents some new clues leading to improved understanding and suggests key research areas necessary to fully understand this crucial processing step. Improved understanding will lead to further increase in conversion efficiency of CdS/CdTe solar cells well beyond 20%.

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Section: Summary Of Reported Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review of the CdCl2 Treatment Used in CdS/CdTe Thin Film Solar Cell Development and New Evidence towards Improved Understanding

2014

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“…Common practice was to dip the layers in a solution containing CdCl 2 dissolved in water or methanol, dry the layer and then heat-treat it at an elevated temperature [14]. Some groups deposited a thick layer of solid CdCl 2 before heat treatment [15,16]. Another method was to expose the layers to halide-containing gas (HCF 2 Cl) at high temperatures [17].…”

Section: Materials Improvement By Cdcl 2 Treatmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

How to Achieve Efficiencies beyond 22.1% for CdTe-Based Thin-Film Solar Cells

Dharmadasa

Alam

2022

Energies

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This review paper summarises the key issues of CdTe and CdS/CdTe solar cells as observed over the past four decades, and focuses on two growth techniques, electrodeposition (ED) and closed space sublimation (CSS), which have successfully passed through the commercialisation process. Comprehensive experience in electrical contacts to CdTe, surfaces & interfaces, electroplated CdTe and solar cell development work led to the design and experimentally test grading of band gap multilayer solar cells, which has been applied to the CdS/CdTe structure. This paper presents the consistent and reproducible results learned through electroplated CdTe and devices, and suggestions are made for achieving or surpassing the record efficiency of 22.1% using the CSS material growth technique.

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“…However, this treatment is not amenable to high-throughput large scale processing due to problems associated with uniform application of the CdCl, coating, removal of post-treatment residues, and safe management of large quantities of the Cd salt. Alternative techniques such as evaporating CdCl, onto the CdTe [448], or reacting the CdTeKdS in either CdCl,vapor [402,414,415] or C1, vapor [415] have been shown to be suitable substitutes and are more amenable to large scale processing. Of these, the C1, offers advantages with respect to vapor generation and Cd toxicity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Processing and modeling issues for thin-film solar cell devices. Final report

Birkmire¹,

Phillips

1997

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This publication was reproduced from the best available camera-ready copy submiited t.y the subconuactor and received no editoriai review at NREL NOTICE This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States government. Neither the United States goverment nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees. makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liabiiii or responsibility for the accurxy, completeness. or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily consiiute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or tavoring by the United States government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States government or any agency thereo". Available to DOE and DOE contractors from:Cffice of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) P SUMMARYDuring the third phase of the subcontract, IEC researchers have continued to provide the thin film PV community with greater depth of understanding and insight into a wide variety of issues including: the deposition and characterization of CuInl-,GaxSe2, a-Si, CdTe, CdS, and TCO thin films; the relationships between film and device properties; and the processing and analysis of thin film PV devices. This has been achieved through the systematic investigation of all aspects of film and device production and through the analysis and quantification of the reaction chemistries involved in thin fdm deposition. This methodology has led to controlled fabrications of 15% efficient CuInl,GaxSe2 solar cells over a wide range of Ga compositions, improved process control of the fabrication of 10% efficient a-Si solar cells, and reliable and generally applicable procedures for both contacting and doping CdTe films. Additional accomplishments are listed below. Cu(InGa)Se, Multisource EvaporationCu(InGa)Se, films have been deposited by elemental evaporation with Ga composition ranging from 0.25 < x < 0.80. The films are deposited with the Ga uniformly distributed from the Mo back contact to the front surface. This allows the effects of increasing Ga to be characterized without differences in the device operation due to gradients in the electrical and optical properties of the Cu(InGa)Se,.The solar cells fabricated from these uniform films have 15% efficiency for x < 0.5 or Eg < 1.3 eV. V, increases over the entire range of Ga content, up to 820 mV, but the device efficiency declines with high Ga content due primarily to a drop in fill factor and short circuit current. Analysis of current-voltage and quantum efficiency results show that the main cause of this drop off is a voltage dependent current collection. Finally, preliminary results show that the fill factor can be improved by grading the bandgap of the Cu(InGa)Se,,...

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LASER-DRIVEN PHYSICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION FOR THIN-FILM CdTe SOLAR CELLS

Cited by 9 publications

References 9 publications

Review of the CdCl2 Treatment Used in CdS/CdTe Thin Film Solar Cell Development and New Evidence towards Improved Understanding

Review of the CdCl2 Treatment Used in CdS/CdTe Thin Film Solar Cell Development and New Evidence towards Improved Understanding

How to Achieve Efficiencies beyond 22.1% for CdTe-Based Thin-Film Solar Cells

Processing and modeling issues for thin-film solar cell devices. Final report

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