Flexible CdTe solar cells on polymer films

Lightweight and flexible CdTe/CdS solar cells on polyimide films have been developed in a 'superstrate configuration' where the light is absorbed in CdTe after passing through the polyimide substrate, The average optical transmission of the approximately 10-mum-thin spin-coated polyimide substrate layer is more than similar to 75% for wavelengths above 550 nm. RF magnetron sputtering was used to grow transparent conducting ZnO:Al layers on polyimide films, CdTe/CdS layers were grown by evaporation of compounds, and a CdCl2 annealing treatment was applied for the recrystallization and junction activation. Solar cells of 8.6% efficiency with V-oc = 763 mV, I-sc = 20.3 mA/cm(2) and FF = 55.7% were obtained

Development of High Efficiency Flexible CdTe Solar Cells

Polycrystalline thin film solar cells of II-VI compound semiconductors are important because of their low cost, high efficiency and stable performance. Flexible and lightweight solar cells are interesting for a variety of terrestrial and space applications that require a very high specific power (ratio of output electrical power to the solar module weight). Moreover, light modules are advantageous in terms of transport and mounting. We have previously described the development of flexible CdTe/CdS solar cells on polyimide substrates with a novel method; efficiencies of 8.6 % were reported. Further improvements in the processing have now increased the solar cell efficiency to 11%. The CdTe solar cell is fabricated in a \u201csuperstrate\u201d configuration where the light passes through the polyimide substrate. Absorption of the incident light and possible degradation of polyimide under UV and particle irradiation are the major limitations of this configuration. To overcome these a new approach is introduced here. The CdTe/CdS/TCO stacks are grown on a NaCl/glass substrate. After the solar cell has been processed, a polymer layer is spin coated on top and the flexible solar cells are detached from the glass by dissolving the NaCl buffer layer. Solar cells of 7.3% efficiency have been obtained

Voltage dependent carrier collection in CdTe solar cells

The measurement of quantum efficiency with bias voltage is a powerful tool to characterize CdTe/CdS solar cell. As the quantum efficiency changes drastically with bias it will be referred to as Apparent Quantum Efficiency AQE. The AQE gives insight to the spectral contents of the cell current and therefore resolves the spatial carrier collection in the cell at each working point. So it is possible to understand the influence of the junctions and changing resistances in the cell. The photoconductivity of CdS facilitates AQE well above unity, i.e. up to 100, at high forward bias. The spectral sensitivity of the CdS photoconductivity affects the cell current strongly. This can explain the dependence of fill factor and roll-over of the I-V characteristics on the spectral content of illumination. Further more back contact junction influence and defect related features, such as sub band gap generation, are evident in the AQE for high forward bias

CdTe solar cells in a novel configuration

Polycrystalline thin-film CdTe/CdS solar cells have been developed in a configuration in which a transparent conducting layer of indium tin oxide (ITO) has been used for the first time as a back electrical contact on p-CdTe. Solar cells of 7.9% efficiency were developed on SnOx:F-coated glass substrates with a low-temperature (<450\ub0C) high-vacuum evaporation method. After the CdCl2 annealing treatment of the CdTe/CdS stack, a bromine methanol solution was used for etching the CdTe surface prior to the ITO deposition. The unique features of this solar cell with both front and back contacts being transparent and conducting are that the cell can be illuminated from either or both sides simultaneously like a 'bi-facial' cell, and it can be used in tandem solar cells. The solar cells with transparent conducting oxide back contact show long-term stable performance under accelerated test conditions