High efficiency thin film cadmium telluride solar cells

Conference · Tue Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1992 · AIP Conference Proceedings (American Institute of Physics); (United States)

OSTI ID:5449321

Chu, T L; Chu, S S; Britt, J; Chen, G; Ferekides, C; Schultz, N; Wang, C; Wu, C Q ^[1]

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1. University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620-5350 (United States)

Cadmium sulfide (CdS), grown from an aqueous solution, and zinc oxide (ZnO), cadmium zinc sulfide (Cd[sub 1[minus][ital x]]Zn[sub [ital x]]S), and zinc selenide (ZnSe), deposited by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), have been used as the window for thin film cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cells. Thin film solar cells were prepared by the successive deposition of the window and [ital p]-CdTe (by MOCVD and close-spaced sublimation, CSS) on SnO[sub 2]:F/glass substrates. CdS/CdTe(CSS) solar cells show considerably better characteristics than CdS/CdTe(MOCVD) solar cells because of the better microstructure of CSS CdTe films. Total area conversion efficiency of 14.6%, verified by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, has been achieved for solar cells of about 1 cm[sup 2] area. Solar cell prepared by using ZnO, ZnSe, or Cd[sub 1[minus][ital x]]Zn[sub [ital x]]S as window have significantly lower photovoltage than CdS/CdTe solar cells.

• OSTI ID: 5449321
• Report Number(s): CONF-9205115--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings (American Institute of Physics); (United States) Journal Volume: 268:1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140501* -- Solar Energy Conversion-- Photovoltaic Conversion
CADMIUM COMPOUNDS
CADMIUM SULFIDES
CADMIUM TELLURIDE SOLAR CELLS
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL COATING
CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION
DEPOSITION
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
EFFICIENCY
ENERGY GAP
EQUIPMENT
FILMS
INORGANIC PHOSPHORS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHOSPHORS
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SULFIDES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SURFACE COATING
THIN FILMS
ZINC COMPOUNDS
ZINC OXIDES
ZINC SULFIDES