Abstract
We report two different CdTe homojunction solar cell structures. Single-crystal CdTe homojunction solar cells were grown on GaAs single-crystal substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. Arsenic and iodine were used as dopants for p-type and n-type CdTe, respectively. Another homojunction solar cell structure was fabricated by growing n-type CdTe directly on bulk p-type CdTe single-crystal substrates. The electrical properties of the different layers were characterized by Hall measurements. When arsine was used as arsenic source, the highest hole concentration was ~6 × 1016 cm–3 and the activation efficiency was ~3%. Very abrupt arsenic doping profiles were observed by secondary ion mass spectrometry. For n-type CdTe with a growth temperature of 250°C and a high Cd/Te ratio the electron concentration was ~4.5 × 1016 cm–3. Because of the 300 nm thick n-type CdTe layer, the short circuit current of the solar cell grown on the bulk CdTe substrate was less than 10 mA/cm2. The open circuit voltage of the device was 0.86 V. According to a prediction based on measurement of short circuit current density (J sc) as a function of open circuit voltage (V oc), an open circuit voltage of 0.92 V could be achieved by growing CdTe solar cells on bulk CdTe substrates.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
First Solar Builds The Highest Efficiency Thin Film PV Cellon Record. http://investor.firstsolar.com/releasedetail.cfm ?ReleaseID=864426. Accessed August 5th 2014.
A. Morales-Acevedo, Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells 90, 2213 (2006).
J. Britt and C. Ferekides, Appl. Phys. Lett. 62, 2851 (1993).
M.A. Green, K. Emery, Y. Hishikawa, W. Warta, and E.D. Dunlop, Prog. Photovolt. 22, 701 (2014).
J.N. Duenow, J.M. Burst, D.S. Albin, D. Kuciauskas, S.W. Johnston, R.C. Reedy, and W.K. Metzger, Appl. Phys. Lett. 105, 053903 (2014).
P.-Y. Su, C. Lee, G.-C. Wang, T.-M. Lu, and I. Bhat, J. Electron. Mater. 43, 2895 (2014).
S.K. Ghandhi, N.R. Taskar, and I.B. Bhat, Appl. Phys. Lett. 50, 900 (1987).
L. Svob, Y. Marfaing, B. Clerjaud, D. Cote, A. Lebkiri, and R. Druilhe, J. Cryst. Growth 159, 72 (1996).
K. Yasuda, M. Niraula, H. Oka, T. Yoneyama, K. Matsumoto, H. Nakashima, T. Nakanishi, D. Katoh, and Y. Agata, J. Electron. Mater. 39, 1118 (2010).
M. Niraula, K. Yasuda, A. Watanabe, Y. Kai, H. Ichihashi, W. Yamada, H. Oka, K. Matsumoto, T. Yoneyama, T. Nakanishi, D. Katoh, H. Nakashima, Y. Agata, and I.E.E.E. Trans, Nucl. Sci. 56, 1731 (2009).
M. Burgelman, P. Nollet, and S. Degrave, Thin Solid Films 527, 361 (2000).
M. Gloeckler, A.L. Fahrenbruch, and J.R. Sites, Numerical modeling of CIGS and CdTe solar cells: setting the baseline. Proceedings of the World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, 3, p. 491, Osaka, Japan, May 2003.
T. Nakazawa, K. Takamizawa, and K. Ito, Appl. Phys. Lett. 50, 279 (1987).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Su, PY., Dahal, R., Wang, GC. et al. Single-Crystal CdTe Homojunction Structures for Solar Cell Applications. J. Electron. Mater. 44, 3118–3123 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-015-3829-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-015-3829-y