Enhanced performance of CdS/CdTe thin-film devices through temperature profiling techniques applied to close-spaced sublimation deposition

Conference · Sun Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1996

OSTI ID:276859

Li, X; Sheldon, P; Moutinho, H; Matson, R ^[1]

---

1. National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States)

The authors describe a methodology developed and applied to the close-spaced sublimation technique for thin-film CdTe deposition. The developed temperature profiles consisted of three discrete temperature segments, which they called the nucleation, plugging, and annealing temperatures. They have demonstrated that these temperature profiles can be used to grow large-grain material, plug pinholes, and improve CdS/CdTe photovoltaic device performance by about 15%. The improved material and device properties have been obtained while maintaining deposition temperatures compatible with commercially available substrates. This temperature profiling technique can be easily applied to a manufacturing environment by adjusting the temperature as a function of substrate position instead of time.

• DOE Contract Number: AC36-83CH10093
• OSTI ID: 276859
• Report Number(s): CONF-960513--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
CADMIUM SULFIDE SOLAR CELLS
CADMIUM TELLURIDE SOLAR CELLS
CADMIUM TELLURIDES
CRYSTAL GROWTH
FABRICATION
MEASURING METHODS
PERFORMANCE
QUANTUM EFFICIENCY
SUBLIMATION
TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION