New window materials used as heterojunction partners on CdTe solar cells

We present in this work the processing and characterization of two semicond uctor thin films (ZnS and ZnxCd1-xO) grown by chemical bath deposition (CBD ), and used as heterojunction partners on CSVT-CdTte films. The photovoltai c properties of the ZnxCd1-xO/CdTe heterojunction are reported here for the first time. The analysis of the basic properties of the films was carried out by standard optical and electrical characterization techniques. The het erojunction systems were studied by means of I-V characteristics, spectral response and quasi-static C-V measurements. Short-circuit currents of 8.9 a nd 22 mA/cm(2), open-circuit voltages of 0.489 V and 0.324 V, All factors o f 0.29 and 0.42 and conversion efficiencies of 1.26 and 3.12% were obtained for SnO2/Zn0.9Cd0.1/CdTe and SnO2/ZnS/CdTe, respectively, under normalized 100 mW/cm(2) illumination (AM1). (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.