Cadmium sulfide/copper sulfide heterojunction cell research by sputter deposition. Quarterly technical progress report, September 2-November 30, 1980

Technical Report · Mon Dec 15 04:00:00 EST 1980

OSTI ID:6660718

Thornton, J A; Anderson, W W; Meakin, J D

Photoluminescence measurements of sputter-deposited CdS films have been made. In a first series of tests thin films of both doped and undoped CdS, deposited under reactive sputtering conditions typical of those used in previous cell fabrication, were found to be void of any photoluminescence emission in the visible spectrum. Subsequent tests of thicker films deposited under various conditions have shown emission from the undoped, but not from the doped, material. A post-deposition treatment process, where CdS films are cooled following deposition in a flux of sputtered Cd, has proven to be the most effective method examined for producing off-stoichiometric coatings with low resistivities (< 100 ..cap omega..-cm). The treated films are found to exhibit a photoluminescence emission. The modified apparatus with the vacuum interlock, that was assembled during the previous program, has permitted more controlled studies to be made on the influence of cathode and wall conditioning in the Cu/sub 2/S reactive sputtering process. Experiments are reported which show that the conditioning times for achieving consistent Cu/sub 2/S coatings are considerably longer than had previously been expected. The deposition of Cu/sub 2/S coatings with consistent properties has been achieved, and hybrid cells have been fabricated with sputtered Cu/sub 2/S deposited onto evaporated CdS supplied by IEC. A first series of cells have yielded J/sub sc/ approx. 13 mA/cm/sup 2/, V/sub oc/ = 0.46 V, FF = 0.46, and eta = 2.7% after heat treatment at approx. 150/sup 0/C in Ar and H/sub 2/. These results, though preliminary, indicate that optimization of the composition and thickness of the sputtered Cu/sub 2/S should yield cells with efficiencies equivalent to those obtained with conventional ion exchange processing methods.

• Research Organization: TELIC Corp., Santa Monica, CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-77CH00178
• OSTI ID: 6660718
• Report Number(s): TELIC-80-3
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140501* -- Solar Energy Conversion-- Photovoltaic Conversion
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360601 -- Other Materials-- Preparation &amp; Manufacture
360603 -- Materials-- Properties
CADMIUM COMPOUNDS
CADMIUM SULFIDE SOLAR CELLS
CADMIUM SULFIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
COPPER COMPOUNDS
COPPER SULFIDES
CURRENTS
DATA
DESIGN
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
EQUIPMENT
FABRICATION
GRAPHS
INFORMATION
INORGANIC PHOSPHORS
LUMINESCENCE
OPTIMIZATION
PERFORMANCE
PHOSPHORS
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOLUMINESCENCE
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
RECOMBINATION
SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SPUTTERING
SULFIDES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS