In situ oxygen incorporation and related issues in CdTe∕CdS photovoltaic devices

CdTe/CdS/SnO2/ITO:F solar cell devices were investigated using quantitative secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) depth profiling. They were grown on sapphire substrates and potentially active impurity species were analyzed. The SIMS data were calibrated for both CdS window layer (grown by sputtering) and CdTe absorber layer (deposited by close-space sublimation). For comparison, some of the samples were grown with and without oxygen incorporation into the CdTe layer during its deposition, and with and without postgrowth cadmium chloride (CdCl2) annealing in air and chemical etching. These devices were back contacted using Mo/Sb2Te3 sputtered layers. It was shown that for CdTe and CdS layers there was a correlation between the concentrations of oxygen and chlorine. In situ oxygen incorporation in the CdTe layer yielded a substantial improvement in the device parameters and achieved an efficiency of 14% compared to 11.5% for devices fabricated in the same conditions without oxygen incorporation in CdTe. In light of our previous reports, this study also led to a clear determination of the origin of Na and Si traces found in these devices