All Screen-Printed CdS/CuInSe₂ Solar Cells

Abstract

Thick film technology offers advantages of low cost, product amenability and automation. This technology has been successful in the manufacture of solar cells using CdS/CdTe heterojunctions. It enables the use of the same equipment in various processes involved in manufacturing solar cells. In the present work, n-CdS/p-CuInSe2 solar cells are prepared by screen printing and sintering pastes which contain the semiconductors. An efficiency of 8.75% is achieved. Electron affinity difference, saturation current and diode quality factor are measured. They are 0.49 eV, (0.9–1.8)×10-7 A, 1.5 respectively. Microstructure and electrical properties of sintered CdS films containing 10, 20, 30 and 40 wt% CdCl2 are investigated. Optimum results are obtained for the CdS films containing 10 wt% CdCl2.

Structural, Compositional, Optical, and Electrical Properties of Solution-Grown Zn[sub x]Cd[sub 1−x]S Films

“…The bandgap was found to vary continuously with molar fraction x, indicating that Zn x Cd 1Ϫx S thin films belong to the amalgamation type. Such variations follow the quadratic equations of the form E g (x) ϭ 2.2 ϩ 0.9x ϩ 0.3x 2 E g (x) ϩ ⌬S 0 ϭ 2.47 ϩ 0.7x ϩ 0.5x 2 The bowing parameters given by the coefficient of the quadratic term in these equations are found to be 0.3 and 0.5 for E g and E g ϩ ⌬S 0 gaps, respectively.…”

“…In recent years there has been considerable interest in thin-film semiconductors for use in solar cell devices and thin-film transistors for flat panel displays [1][2][3] Cadmium zinc sulfide is one of the promising materials. The deposition of Zn x Cd 1Ϫx S films has become increasingly important due to the widened industrial applications with a larger number of uses.…”

“…The deposition of Zn x Cd 1Ϫx S films has become increasingly important due to the widened industrial applications with a larger number of uses. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] Zn x Cd 1Ϫx S thin films, widely used as a wide-bandgap window material in heterojunction solar cells, [1][2][3] have been deposited by various techniques, among which chemical solution growth has proved to be simple, inexpensive, and convenient, in particular for largearea deposition. Furthermore, it has been observed [5][6][7][8][9][10] that films deposited by the solution-growth technique are hard, smooth, and pinhole free.…”

Effect of doping and sintering temperature on the optical characterization of CdS films prepared by screen printing technique

“…For further increase in doping concentration, there is again a shift of absorption edge towards the higher wavelengths which indicated the decreasing trend in the optical band gap. Figure [6] indicates that reflectance of the CdS films increased with lower CuCl 2 concentration which indicated that doping promotes the scattering of light waves especially the longer wavelength of the visible region.…”

“…Screen printing and sintering is more widely used, non vacuum deposition technique [ 1 ]. Besides of its lower cost equipment and cheapest techniques and lower cost productions, [ 1,2,3,6,7,12 ]. Sharma et al(2004), [ 12] prepared 15  m screen printed CdS films having high absorption coefficient 10 4 cm -1 when sintered at the optimum sintering parameters; which is 500 o C for 10 minutes in air, with the sintering flux; which is CdCl 2 , so it is suitable for window material in heterojunction solar cell.…”