CDTE SOLAR-CELLS WITH EFFICIENCIES OVER 15-PERCENT

High efficiency CdTe/CdS thin film solar cells have been prepared on S nO2 coated borosilicate glass substrates. The CdS films are deposited by the Chemical Bath Deposition (CBD) technique from an aqueous soluti on containing cadmium acetate, ammonium acetate, ammonia and thiourea in the temperature range of 80-90 degrees C. The CdTe films are deposi ted by the Close Spaced Sublimation (CSS) technique from CdTe powder o f 99.999% purity. Doped graphite paste is used as the ohmic contact to the CdTe and indium is used as the contact to the SnO2. Conversion ef ficiencies of over 15% have been achieved as a result of optimization of a number of processing steps.