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Evaporated Te on CdTe: A vacuum‐compatible approach to making back contact to CdTe solar cell devices
Author(s) -
Niles David W.,
Li Xiaonan,
Albin David,
Rose Doug,
Gessert Timothy,
Sheldon Peter
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
progress in photovoltaics: research and applications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.286
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1099-159X
pISSN - 1062-7995
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-159x(199605/06)4:3<225::aid-pip122>3.0.co;2-6
Subject(s) - cadmium telluride photovoltaics , materials science , vacuum evaporation , optoelectronics , etching (microfabrication) , solar cell , contact resistance , acid etching , thin film , phosphoric acid , layer (electronics) , nanotechnology , composite material , metallurgy
A commonly used process for forming low‐resistance contacts to thin‐film p‐type CdTe involves the formation of a Te layer by etching the CdTe film in a concentrated mixture of nitric and phosphoric acids. The authors compare evaporated Te back contacts with ‘control’ back contacts formed by the usual etching process, and demonstrate that evaporating Te onto a CdTe thin film is a viable process for forming a low‐resistance contact. The best efficiency achieved for a CdTe solar cell made with an evaporated Te back contact is 12.1%, whereas the efficiency of the device made with the control back contact was 11.9%. The evaporation process offers numerous advantages over acid etching, most notably vacuum compatibility amenable to large‐scale production of CdTe solar cell modules.