Cadmium sulfide/copper selenide cell research copper selenide-based thin film solar cells. Second quarterly technical progress report, September 1, 1980-December 1, 1980
The objective of this program is to investigate the use of Cu/sub 2-x/Se to produce low cost, high efficiency photovoltaic solar cells. The Cu/sub 2-x/Se films are produced by coevaporation of Cu and Se from separate, individually controlled vapor sources onto heated glass substrates. This method gives greater composition controllability and is readily adaptable to large scale production efforts. Two quartz crystal microbalances are used to separately monitor the Cu and Se deposition rates. The structural, electrical, and optical properties of the Cu/sub 2-x/Se films have been measured for deposits made on 250/sup 0/C substrates. The optical absorption measurements show the material having an indirect band gap of 1.4 eV and a direct gap of 2.2 eV. These values are for stoichiometric indices in the range of 0.17 less than or equal to x less than or equal to 0.26. Hall and conductivity measurements give hole mobilities in the range of 3 to 7 cm/sup 2//Vsec and hole densities of the order of 4 x 10/sup 22/ cm/sup -3/. For deposits made on substrate at 160/sup 0/C, the mobility is in the range of 3 to 10 cm/sup 2//Vsec and hole densities on the order of 10/sup 18/ to 10/sup 21/ cm/sup -3/ for 0.1 less than or equal to x less than or equal to 0.3. To date, the best cell has photovoltaic characteristics of J/sub sc/ = 11.6 mA/cm/sup 2/, V/sub oc/ = 460 mV, F.F. = 0.62 and eta = 3.3% when tested under simulated AM1 illumination. In an effort to improve cell performance, low resistance CdS was used. Cell performance degraded considerably with the low resistance CdS resulting in substantially lower values for both V/sub oc/ and I/sub sc/. It is believed in part that this difficulty can be traced to pinhole defects in the ITO electrode. When the low resistance CdS is deposited on ITO, regions in the CdS appear to be high in Cd where pinholes in the ITO were observed.
- Research Organization:
- Boeing Aerospace Co., Seattle, WA (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-77CH00178
- OSTI ID:
- 6890611
- Report Number(s):
- SERI/PR-9216-1-T2
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
CADMIUM SULFIDE SOLAR CELLS
FABRICATION
PERFORMANCE
COPPER SELENIDES
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
VAPOR PLATING
CADMIUM SULFIDES
CARRIER DENSITY
CARRIER MOBILITY
COPPER
CRYSTAL DEFECTS
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
DATA
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ELECTRIC CONTACTS
ENERGY GAP
EVAPORATION
FILL FACTORS
GRAPHS
HALL EFFECT
HOLES
INDIUM OXIDES
POLYCRYSTALS
SELENIUM
TIN OXIDES
CADMIUM COMPOUNDS
CHALCOGENIDES
COPPER COMPOUNDS
CRYSTALS
DEPOSITION
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT
ELEMENTS
EQUIPMENT
INDIUM COMPOUNDS
INFORMATION
INORGANIC PHOSPHORS
METALS
MOBILITY
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PHOSPHORS
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PLATING
SELENIDES
SELENIUM COMPOUNDS
SEMIMETALS
SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SULFIDES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SURFACE COATING
TIN COMPOUNDS
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
140501* - Solar Energy Conversion- Photovoltaic Conversion
360601 - Other Materials- Preparation & Manufacture
360603 - Materials- Properties