• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.101-102
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• 2005

Cadmium telluride (CdTe) films have been prepared on Coming 7059 glass, molybdemium (Mo), and polyimide (PI) substrates by r.f. magnetron sputtering technique. The influence of the sputter pressure on the structural and optical properties of these films was evaluated. In addition, a comparison of the properties of the films deposited on different substrates was performed.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.259-273
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• 2012

Chalcogenide-based semiconductors, such as $CuInSe_2$, $CuGaSe_2$, Cu(In,Ga)$Se_2$ (CIGS), and CdTe have attracted considerable interest as efficient materials in thin film solar cells (TFSCs). Currently, CIGS and CdTe TFSCs have demonstrated the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of over 11% in module production. However, commercialized CIGS and CdTe TFSCs have some limitations due to the scarcity of In, Ga, and Te and the environmental issues associated with Cd and Se. Recently, kesterite CZTS, which is one of the In- and Ga- free absorber materials, has been attracted considerable attention as a new candidate for use as an absorber material in thin film solar cells. The CZTS-based absorber material has outstanding characteristics such as band gap energy of 1.0 eV to 1.5 eV, high absorption coefficient on the order of $10^4cm^{-1}$, and high theoretical conversion efficiency of 32.2% in thin film solar cells. Despite these promising characteristics, research into CZTS-based thin film solar cells is still incomprehensive and related reports are quite few compared to those for CIGS thin film solar cells, which show high efficiency of over 20%. The recent development of kesterite-based CZTS thin film solar cells is summarized in this work. The new challenges for enhanced performance in CZTS thin films are examined and prospective issues are addressed as well.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 1995.11a
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• pp.83-83
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• 1995

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.72-72
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• 2011

Surface science is intrinsically related to the performance of solar cells. In solar cells the generation and collection of charge carriers determines their efficiency. Effective transport of charge carriers across interfaces and minimization of their recombination at surfaces and interfaces is of utmost importance. Thus, the chemistry at the surfaces and interfaces of these devices must be determined, and related to their performance. In this talk we will discuss the role of two important interfaces, First, the role of surface passivation is very important in limiting the rate of carrier of recombination. Here we will combine x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of the surface of a Si device with electrical measurements to ascertain what factors determine the quality of a solar cell passivation. In addition, the quality of the heterojunction interface in a ZnSe/CdTe solar cell affects the output voltage of this device. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy gives some insight into the composition of the interface, while ultraviolet photoemission yields the relative energy of the two materials' valence bands at the junction, which controls the open circuit voltage of the solar cell. The relative energies of ZnSe and CdTe at the interface is directly affected by the material quality of the interface through processing.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2017

Two different fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO)-coated glass substrates were investigated to find better suitability for CdTe solar cells. Substrate A consisted of FTO (300 nm)/$SiO_2$ (24 nm)/intrinsic $SnO_2$ (30 nm)/borosilicate glass (2.2 mm), and substrate B consisted of FTO (700 nm)/intrinsic $SnO_2$ (30nm)/borosilicate glass (1.8 mm). The overall thickness of the FTO/glass substrates was about 2.5 mm. The total light transmittance of substrate B was much higher than that of substrate A throughout the whole spectral region, even though the thickness of the FTO in substrate B was twice larger than that of the FTO in the substrate A. The short-circuit current greatly increased in substrate B and the external quantum efficiency (EQE) increased over the whole wavelength range. This study shows that the diffuse optical transmittance played a key role in the large EQE value in the blue wavelength region, and the direct transmittance played a key role in the large EQE value in the red wavelength region. The higher transmittance is due to the rough surface generated by the thicker FTO on glass. The conversion efficiency of the CdTe solar cell increased from 12.4 to 15.1% in combination of rough FTO substrate and Cu solution back contact.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.666-672
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• 1996

The optical property of CdTe thin film is important for applications such as the compound semiconductor type solar cells. CdTe films are prepared by RF sputtering at various substrate temperature between $25^{\circ}C$ and $300^{\circ}C$, then, annealed in argon gas environment at $400^{\circ}C$. The annealing process of the thin film caused variation in the film structure and the composition of films. The deformation of CdTe thin film was observed by X-ray diffractometry. After annealing, the grain size increased and the portion of the non-crystalline CdTe reduced. Futhermore, the structure of sputtered CdTe film grown at the substrate temperature more than $250^{\circ}C$ was enhanced in the (111) direction of zincblend structure. There was a discrepancy, in the spectroscopic ellipsometer spectrum, between the single crystal CdTe and the sputtered CdTe thin films, especially in the region over 3.2eV. An oxidation layer was found on the CdTe thin film by spectroscopic ellipsometry analysis.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1998.07d
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• pp.1370-1372
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• 1998

Boron doped CdS films were prepared by CBD(Chemical Bath Deposition) method using boric acid ($B_3HO_3$) as donor dopant source, and their properties were investigated. As-grown CdS films were highly adherent and specularly reflective. Boron doped CdS film which was fabricated under the condition of 0.01 $B_3HO_3/Cd(Ac)_2$ mole ratio, exhibited the lowest resistivity of $2{\Omega}cm$ and the highest optical bandgap of 2.41eV. Also, CdS/CdTe solar cells were fabricated with various doping concentration of CdS films. Using optimized CdS film as the window layer of CdS/CdTe solar cell, the characteristics of the cell were improved. ( $V_{oc}$=610mV, $J_{sc}$=37.5mA/cm, FF=0.4, $\eta$=9.1% )

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.734-736
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• 2012

Cadmium telluride (CdTe) films have been prepared on Corning 7059 glass, molybdenum (Mo), and polyimide (PI) substrates by r.f. magnetron sputtering technique. The influence of the sputter pressure on the structural and optical properties of these films was evaluated. In addition, a comparison of the properties of the films deposited on fferent substrates was performed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.375-375
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• 2010

CdTe as an absorber material is widely used in thin film solar cells with the heterostructure due to its almost ideal band gap energy of 1.45 eV, high photovoltaic conversion efficiency, low cost and stable performance. The deposition methods and preparation conditions for the fabrication of CdTe are very important for the achievement of high solar cell conversion efficiency. There are some rearranged reports about the deposition methods available for the preparation of CdTe thin films such as close spaced sublimation (CSS), physical vapor deposition (PVD), vacuum evaporation, vapor transport deposition (VTD), closed space vapor transport, electrodeposition, screen printing, spray pyrolysis, metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), and RF sputtering. The RF sputtering method for the preparation of CdTe thin films has important advantages in that the thin films can be prepared at low growth temperatures with large-area deposition suitable for mass-production. The authors reported that the optical and electrical properties of CdTe thin film were closely connected by the thickness-uniformity of the film in the previous study [1], which means that the better optical absorbance and the higher carrier concentration could be obtained in the better condition of thickness-uniformity for CdTe thin film. The thickness-uniformity could be controlled and improved by the some process parameters such as vacuum level and RF power in the sputtering process of CdTe thin films. However, there is a limitation to improve the thickness-uniformity only in the preparation process [1]. So it is necessary to introduce the external or additional method for improving the thickness-uniformity of CdTe thin film because the cell size of thin film solar cell will be enlarged. Therefore, the authors firstly applied the chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process to improving the thickness-uniformity of CdTe thin films with a G&P POLI-450 CMP polisher [2]. CMP process is the most important process in semiconductor manufacturing processes in order to planarize the surface of the wafer even over 300 mm and to form the copper interconnects with damascene process. Some important CMP characteristics for CdTe were obtained including removal rate (RR), WIWNU%, RMS roughness, and peak-to-valley roughness [2]. With these important results, the CMP process for CdTe thin films was performed to improve the thickness-uniformity of the sputtering-deposited CdTe thin film which had the worst two thickness-uniformities of them. Some optical properties including optical transmittance and absorbance of the CdTe thin films were measured by using a UV-Visible spectrophotometer (Varian Techtron, Cary500scan) in the range of 400 - 800 nm. After CMP process, the thickness-uniformities became better than that of the best condition in the previous sputtering process of CdTe thin films. Consequently, the optical properties were directly affected by the thickness-uniformity of CdTe thin film. The absorbance of CdTe thin films was improved although the thickness of CdTe thin film was not changed.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.28-32
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• 2008

In this paper CdS thin films, which were widely used window layer of the CdS/CdTe and the CdS/$CuInSe_2$ heterojunction solar cell, were grown by chemical bath deposition, which is a very attractive method for low-cost and large-area solar cells, and the structural, optical and electrical properties of the films was studied. As the thiourea/$CdAc_2$ mole ratio was increased, the deposition rate of CdS films prepared by CBD was increased due to increasing reaction velocity in solution and the optical bandgap was increased at higher thiourea/$CdAc_2$ mole ratio due to larger grain size and continuous microstructure. The minimum resistivity of the films was at thiourea/$CdAc_2$ mole ratio of 3.