Thin film cadmium telluride solar cells. Final technical report, July 1, 1979-August 31, 1980

Abstract

Efforts during this program have been directed to the construction of apparatus for the chemical vapor deposition of cadmium telluride films, the selection and preparation of substrates, the deposition and characterization of cadmium telluride films, and the fabrication and characterization of solar cells. Cadmium telluride films have been deposited on a number of substrates by the direct combination of cadmium and tellurium on the substrate surface at 500/sup 0/C or higher at rates of up to 0.6 ..mu..m/min. The structural, crystallographic, and electrical properties of cadmium telluride films deposited over a wide range of conditions have been evaluated. A series of doping experiments have been carried out using iodine and indium as the n-type dopant, and phosphorus, arsenic, and antimony as the p-type dopant. Low resistivity films have not been produced thus far. In/W/graphite substrates have been used for the deposition of n-type films with an ohmic interface. However, no suitable substrates have been found to form an ohmic interface with p-type films. Solar cells prepared from these films exhibit relatively good short-circuit current density, up to 15 mA/cm/sup 2/, but their conversion efficiencies are severely limited by the high series resistance of the devices. It is believed that lowmore » resistivity cadmium telluride films can be prepared by optimizing the deposition conditions. In parallel with the search of substrates with low interface resistance, back wall cells, such as p-CdTe/n-CdS/ITO/glass(substrate), should be investigated.« less