Atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition of CdTe for high efficiency thin film PV devices: Annual subcontract report, 26 January 1999--25 January 2000

ITN's three year project Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition (APCVD) of CdTe for High Efficiency Thin Film PV Devices has the overall objectives of improving thin film CdTe PV manufacturing technology and increasing CdTe PV device power conversion efficiency. CdTe deposition by APCVD employs the same reaction chemistry as has been used to deposit 16% efficient CdTe PV films, i.e., close spaced sublimation, but employs forced convection rather than diffusion as a mechanism of mass transport. Tasks of the APCVD program center on demonstration of APCVD of CdTe films, discovery of fundamental mass transport parameters, application of established engineering principles to the deposition of CdTe films, and verification of reactor design principles which could be used to design high throughput, high yield manufacturing equipment. Additional tasks relate to improved device measurement and characterization procedures that can lead to a more fundamental understanding of CdTe PV device operation and ultimately to higher device conversion efficiency and greater stability. Under the APCVD program, device analysis goes beyond conventional one-dimensional device characterization and analysis toward two dimension measurements and modeling. Accomplishments of the second year of the APCVD subcontract include: deposition of the first APCVD CdTe; identification of deficiencies in the first generation APCVD reactor; design, fabrication and testing of a ``simplified'' APCVD reactor; deposition of the first dense, adherent APCVD CdTe films; fabrication of the first APCVD CdTe PV device; modeling effects of CdSTe and SnOx layers; and electrical modeling of grain boundaries

Preparation and properties of evaporated CdTe films: Final subcontract report, 16 February 1985-31 March 1987

Previous work on evaporated CdTe films for photovoltaics showed no clear path to successful p-type doping of CdTe during deposition. Post-deposition annealing of the films in various ambients thus was examined as a means of doping. Anneals were done in Te, Cd, P, and As vapors and in vacuum, air and Ar, all of which showed large effects on series resistance and diode parameters. With As, series resistance values of In/p-CdTe/graphite structures decreased markedly. This decrease was due to a decrease in grain boundary and/or back contact barrier height, and thus was due to large increases in mobility; the carrier density was not altered substantially. Although the series-resistance decreases were substantial, the diode characteristics became worse. The decreases were not observed when CdS/CdTe cells were fabricated on Te vapor-annealed films. Preparation of ZnO films by reactive evaporation yielded promising results. Deposition of p-ZnTe films by hot-wall vapor evaporation, using conventional techniques, yielded acceptable films without intentional doping