Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition of CdTe for High-Efficiency Thin-Film PV Devices; Annual Report, 26 January 1998-25 January 1999

Technical Report · Thu Sep 30 00:00:00 EDT 1999

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/14434· OSTI ID:14434

Meyers, P V ^[1]; Kee, R; Wolden, C; Raja, L; Kaydanov, V; Ohno, T; Collins, R; Aire, M; Kestner, J ^[2]; Fahrenbruch, A ^[3]

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1. ITN Energy Systems, Wheat Ridge, Colorado (US)
2. Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado (US)
3. ALF, Inc., Stanford, California (US)

ITN's 3-year project, titled ''Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition (APCVD) of CdTe for High-Efficiency Thin-Film Photovoltaic (PV) Devices,'' has the overall objectives of improving thin-film CdTe PV manufacturing technology and increasing CdTe PV device power conversion efficiency. CdTe deposition by APCVD employs the same reaction chemistry as has been used to deposit 16%-efficient CdTe PV films, i.e., close-spaced sublimation, but employs forced convection rather than diffusion as a mechanism of mass transport. Tasks of the APCVD program center on demonstrating APCVD of CdTe films, discovering fundamental mass-transport parameters, applying established engineering principles to the deposition of CdTe films, and verifying reactor design principles that could be used to design high-throughput, high-yield manufacturing equipment. Additional tasks relate to improved device measurement and characterization procedures that can lead to a more fundamental understanding of CdTe PV device operation, and ultimately, to higher device conversion efficiency and greater stability. Specifically, under the APCVD program, device analysis goes beyond conventional one-dimensional device characterization and analysis toward two-dimension measurements and modeling. Accomplishments of the first year of the APCVD subcontract include: selection of the Stagnant Flow Reactor design concept for the APCVD reactor, development of a detailed reactor design, performance of detailed numerical calculations simulating reactor performance, fabrication and installation of an APCVD reactor, performance of dry runs to verify reactor performance, performance of one-dimensional modeling of CdTe PV device performance, and development of a detailed plan for quantification of grain-boundary effects in polycrystalline CdTe devices.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: US Department of Energy (US)
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-99GO10337
• OSTI ID: 14434
• Report Number(s): NREL/SR-520-26566; TRN: US200312%%182
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Supercedes report DE00014434; PBD: 30 Sep 1999; PBD: 30 Sep 1999
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE
CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION
DEPOSITION
DESIGN
DIFFUSION
EFFICIENCY
FABRICATION
FORCED CONVECTION
MANUFACTURING
SIMULATION
STABILITY
SUBLIMATION
CADMIUM TELLURIDES
THIN FILMS
ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION
APCVD
CADMIUM TELLURIDE
PHOTOVOLTAICS
CDTE
REACTORS
DEVICE PERFORMANCE
HIGH EFFICIENCY
MODELING