ES Energy Environ.

, 2020, 10, 3-12

ES Energy & Environment

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.30919/esee8c706

Cadmium Telluride/Cadmium Sulfide Thin Films Solar Cells: A

Review
R. S. Kapadnis,* S. B. Bansode, A. T. Supekar, P. K. Bhujbal, S. S. Kale, S. R. Jadkar and H. M. Pathan

Abstract
The efficiency and steadiness of solar cells are dependent on the experimental conditions during the fabrication of the device.
In the present review, development in the last few decades in CdTe/CdS solar cells on different conducting substrates, their
characterizations, and their effect on their performances has been illustrated. The variations in the efficiency were observed
for the CdTe/CdS solar cells because of not only different deposition methods but also the difference in deposition conditions.
In addition to this contact, material plays a significant role in the performance of a solar cell. CdTe/CdS solar cells with cheaper,
greater efficiency can be possible soon.
Keywords: Chalcogenides; Thin films; Semiconductors; Heterojunction; Solar cell; CdTe/CdS.
Received: 16 March 2020; Accepted: 21 September 2020.
Article type: Review article.

1. Introduction and 1.5 eV for single crystal form.[3] It shows excellent

In due course of the period, the world may face a problem of electrical and optical properties (Table. 1). Since it is used in
an energy crisis. Solar energy is one of the abundant renewable various optoelectronics devices. Solar cells are one of the
energy sources to resolve the global energy crisis. A solar cell potential applications of CdTe thin film. Absorption
converts solar energy into electrical energy. Historically, the coefficient of CdTe thin film is 104 cm−1.[4] Other interesting
development of solar cells, from the first crystalline silicon property of the CdTe material is that we can easily deposited
solar cell with a 6 % efficiency developed by Bell lab.[1] The p- and n-type conductivity. CdTe is mostly studied material
first-generation solar cells are known as a crystalline silicon- since 1890, however, last 10 years it used as a polycrystalline
based solar cell having power conversion efficiency exceeding thin films and quantum dots.
20 % and those of single-crystalline cells have reached up to Conversely, high work function (5.7 eV) and resistivity are
26.6 %. The second-generation solar cells are basically thin some of the major issues of the CdTe thin film. Its effect on
film solar cells. It comprises various semiconducting materials the junction of metal and semiconductor. To modify the metal-
layers of absorber or active materials. Among this Silicon (Si) semiconductor junction, it is essential to find a metal having a
GaAs (Gallium Arsenide), CdTe (Cadmium Telluride), and metal work function greater than that of the CdTe. The
CIGS (Cupper Indium Gallium Sulphide) are one of the homojunction of CdTe based thin film shows higher
potential semiconductor materials. They are used to fabricate recombination speed. A higher recombination rate reduces the
efficient soar cells. The second-generation solar cells having a properties of optoelectronic devices. Heterojunction thin film
power conversion efficiency are 28.8 %, 22.1%, and 22.6% for is one of the best solutions to resolve this issue. CdS/CdTe
GaAs, CdTe, and CIGS solar cell, respectively.[2] Amongst heterojunction is one of the best heterojunctions, which is
CdTe is one of the potential absorber materials in thin film widely used for solar cell application.
solar cells.
1.2 Cadmium sulfide (CdS)
1.1 Cadmium telluride (CdTe) CdS is an II-VI group semiconductor having a bandgap 2.45
CdTe is well studied materials. It is II-VI semiconducting eV.[5] For a long period of time, researchers have attracted
material having direct bandgap of 1.42 eV for polycrystalline towards the CdS thin film due to its interesting optoelectronic
properties. It is widely used as a buffer layer in solar cells
Advanced Physics Laboratory, Department of Physics, Savitribai because of its superior optoelectronic properties. The optical
Phule Pune University, Pune - 411007 transparency of the film can be easily controlled by thickness
*Email: [email protected] (R. S. Kapadnis) variation. The optimized thickness of CdS thin film for solar

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Review article ES Energy & Environment

cell applications is 120 nm. This cell achieved higher 1.3 CdTe/CdS
efficiency of 21%. Various chemical and physical methods CdTe/CdS thin-film solar cells are an alternative way to
were used to deposit CdS thin film. Amongst CBD is one of harvest sunlight for energy conversion. The polycrystalline
the potential and low-cost methods for the deposition of the CdTe/CdS thin-film solar cell is one of the significant and
compact thin film. The highest efficiency was obtained by primary contenders [7-8] for photovoltaic devices for cost-
using a CdS prepared by CBD. The choice of the CBD method effective and clean generation of solar electricity for global
was probably due to the fact that CBD makes a very compact applications [9-11] as well environmental friendly energy for the
film that covers perfectly the TCO layer.[6] Another interesting future.[12] Since 1972 various researchers were fabricated
property of this material is it provides chemical and thermal CdTe/CdS solar cell devices. In 1972 Bonnet and Rabenhorst
stability to the CdTe thin film. et al. reported CdTe/CdS thin-film solar cells with an
efficiency of 6 %.[13] In 1982 Tyan and Perez-Albuerne et al.
Table 1 Properties of CdTe fabricated CdTe/CdS thin-film solar cells having efficiency
Semiconductor CdTe 10 %.[14] Further in 1993 Ferek-ides et al. and Wu at al.
Crystal structure Cubic reported 15.8 % and 16.5 % efficiency for CdTe/CdS thin film
Band gap 1.42 eV [3] solar cells.[15] They mainly focused on the photoconversion
Lattice Constant 6.482 Å efficiency of the device. The photoconversion efficiency of
Electron affinity 4.28 (eV) this device is enhanced from 6 to 16.5 % by modifying the
absorption coefficient 104 cm−1. polycrystalline layers of CdS and CdTe from time to time.
Refractive Index 2.76 However, practically, the CdS films should be thin enough to
Density 5.85 g/cm3
allow high transmission and must be uniform to avoid short-
Melting Point 1092 °C
circuit effects.[16]
CdTe/CdS solar cells are p-n junction hetero-junction
Boiling Point 1130 °C
device in which a thin film of CdS forms the n-type window
Young's Modulus 3.7x1011 dyne/cm2
layer. The structure of the substrate is in that the transparent
work function 5.7 eV
conductor and window layer were first deposited onto a
Hole Mobility 65 cm2/Vsv transparent substrate such as fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO)
Electron Mobility 700 cm2/Vs or indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass. The CdTe absorber
layer is deposited over a window layer[17] as shown in Fig. 1.
CdTe/CdS solar cells were non-uniformly doped at the back
surface of CdTe with Cu evaporated through a shadow mask.
The transparent conducting oxide (TCO), vapor transport CdS,
and CdTe layers were treated with annealed CdCl2 processed
for the first solar cell.[18] The material is first etched for the 30s
with 1% Br methanol solution and it dramatically affects
device performance[19] and defect concentrations.[19-21]
In this article the fabrication technology of CdTe/CdS solar
cell on different substrate viz. stainless steel, FTO coated glass
substrate, ITO coated glass substrates and polymer substrates
were reviewed. Different research groups used different
methods for the deposition of CdTe/CdS thin film, metal
contacts and top ohmic contact. Various deposition
methodologies, fabrication conditions, and the performance of
cells, its success, and failures are systematically reviewed in
this paper.

2. Structure of CdTe/CdS solar cells

CdTe/CdS solar cells can be generally developed in two
fundamental ways as superstrate and substrate depending on
the direction of the light incident on the window layer. In
Substrate configuration (Fig. 2) light enters through the cell
and then reaches the TCO. Conversely, in superstrate (Fig. 3)
configuration light enters through the substrate and then
reaches the cell. The high-efficiency CdTe solar cells are
Fig. 1 Schematic representation (not in scale) of CdTe/CdS solar
generally grown in a superstrate configuration where the
cell.
CdS/CdTe thin films are deposited on TCO coated glass

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ES Energy & Environment Review article

substrates. According to previous reports, the superstate a variety of different techniques such as close space
configuration achieved the highest efficiency than the sublimation, vapor transport deposition, electrodeposition,
substrate configuration. CdTe solar cells based on both chemical bath deposition, magnetron sputtering, high vacuum
configurations consist of four parts: thermal evaporation, screen printing, chemical vapor
Substrate: Glass, molybdenum (Mo), polyamide, and deposition.[30-42]
stainless steel are widely used as a substrate in CdS /CdTe
thin-film solar cells.
A front contact: Highly conducting and transparent metal
oxides such as FTO, ITO, AZO are widely used as a front
contact in CdS /CdTe thin-film solar cell. Physical as well as
chemical deposition techniques such as RF magnetron
sputtering,[22-24] PLD,[25] CVD,[26] and spray pyrolysis is are
widely used deposition techniques for the deposition of a
TCOs. Romeo et al.[27] reported a new potential fluorine-doped
In2O3 which shows excellent properties than other TCOs.
A window layer: CdTe is commonly coupled with thin CdS
material. CdS is one of the potential and widely used window
material in CdS /CdTe thin-film solar cells. Till date, highest
efficiency reported for CdTe/CdS structure-based solar
cell.[28] Fig. 3 Superstrate configuration of CdTe/CdS solar cell
An absorber layer: Basically, it is a CdTe layer. It grown on
top of the CdS layer. Chemical bath deposition is a popular way to deposit CdS
A back contact: Ag – Au, Cu–Au, ZnO/Al, and NiO are films for the high efficiency of CdS/CdTe solar cells.[15] The
commonly used back contact for CdS /CdTe thin-film solar solar cell device fabrication involves the successive deposition
cells. of n-type photosensitive CdS thin film. Rose et al[5] reported
that the basic fabrication technique includes low-pressure
CVD deposited SnO2, CBD CdS, and CdS/CdTe with CdCl2
treatment and an acid contact etch followed by the application
of doped graphite paste and the efficiency of the CdS/CdTe
solar cell was 15.4%.
Han et al.[43] reported, CdS films prepared by CBD and
CdCl2 annealed under ultrahigh vacuum conditions of about
150nm, and the bath temperature kept 700 °C, for the
fabrication of CdS/CdTe solar cell with gold back contact used.
Khrypunov et al.[29] reported, that the CdS layer deposited in a
high vacuum evaporation chamber at a substrate temperature
of 150 ºC and annealed at 450 ºC for the re-crystalline and then
CdTe deposited by the same method at temperature 300 ºC,
thickness 0.1-0.5 μm for CdS and 3 to 4 μm for CdTe.
Influence of the CdS window layer on the performance of 2
μm thick CdS/CdTe solar cells, with a reduction of thickness
from 114 to 95 nm, current density (Jsc) increases due to an
increase in the blue response. While it decreases 85 nm then
Fig. 2 Substrate configuration of CdTe/CdS solar cell conversion efficiency mainly decreases due to a decrease in
Voc and FF.[44]
3. Fabrication of CdTe/CdS solar cells The CBD CdS cells show higher open-circuit voltage and
Thin-film solar cells can be generally developed in two fill factor while the short-circuit current remains with little
fundamental ways as superstrate and substrate depending on change as the ratio of S to Cd in CBD solution goes from 1to
the direction of the light incident on the window layer. The 5 and it causes a variation of the thickness of CdS and the
high-efficiency CdTe solar cells are generally grown in a performance of the solar cell.[45] CdTe polycrystalline film
superstrate configuration where the CdS/CdTe thin films are deposited by CSS on the CdS layer on TCO/SnO2: F of
deposited on TCO coated glass substrates. The selection of the thickness 150 nm by CBD method. The thickness of the CdTe
appropriate substrate is essential for the good solar cell.[29] thin film was 4-6 microns. The substrate temperature 500 ºC
Layers of CdTe and CdS for solar cells can be deposited using and source temperature 620 ºC and the deposition time of 4

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Review article ES Energy & Environment

min and achieved an efficiency of 13.44%.[46] So, the 10.1 % immediately after fabrication but after 100 days the
production of a high-quality integrated cell is hopeful. efficiency decreased slightly up to 9.8 %.
Wu et al.[51] fabricated CdTe devices with Zinc stannate
(Zn2SnO4 or ZTO) buffer layer. CdS/CdTe preliminary solar
cells demonstrate high performance. Also, these films were
chemically stable and exhibit higher resistivity that are
roughly matched with the CdS window layer in the device
structure. ZTO buffer layer in both SnO2 based and Cd2SnO4
CTO based CdS/CdTe devices, enhances significantly
performance and reproducibility of solar cell. The behavior of
the CdS/CdTe interface is highly sensitive to the chemical and
thermal state interfaces. When CdTe diffused into CdS, the
blue spectral response is reduced, whereas, for CdS diffusion
into CdTe, the CdS film is consumed,[52] reducing its thickness
and lowering the absorber bandgap.[53-54]
CdS/CdTe heterojunction have has been prepared by
depositing 3-5 μm of p-CdTe films on CdS films of 500-1000
Å. Typical dark current-voltage characterization of CdTe/CdS
heterojunction solar cell at forwarding bias up to 1 V. Above
higher voltages 1.5 V, the current-voltage characterization
becomes linear due to the predominance of series resistance
and efficiency of the cell of 13.4%.[55] CdTe thin-film solar
cells with Sb-Te back contacts before and after annealing, Voc,
and FF of solar cells with as-deposited Sb-Te thin films do not
change drastically for cells with/without back contact layer,
Fig. 4 J-V curves of the FTO/CdS/CdTe/ITO solar cell but Jsc increases by about 10 %. After annealing Jsc and FF
illuminated from (1) the FTO side Voc = 702 mV, Jsc = 18.2 increase and efficiency rises to 13.1%.[56]
mA/cm2, FF = 62, η = 7.9%; and (2) the ITO side Voc = 591 mV, Britt et al.[41] reported that the high temperatures used
Jsc = 3.4 mA/cm , FF = 50, η = 1% under simulated AM1.5 during the deposition of CdTe by CSS may cause the
2

illumination, reproduced with the permission from [9]. formation of inter diffused regions between CdS and CdTe.
The presence of the CdS/CdTe region would shift the electrical
When ITO as a back contact for all PVD CdS photovoltaic junction away from the metallurgical junction and improve the
devices that acts as a free Cu stable back contact and at the electrical and PV characteristics. Oman et al.[57] reported that
same time, allow realizing bifacial CdTe solar cells. When the the sharp drop in quantum efficiency was seen at the CdS
thickness of CdTe is reduced, it improves the performance at bandgap of 510 and 600 nm, but it shows better performance
reducing annealing time with 20 % of standard CdCl2 at 510 nm which was interpreted as an indication that mixing
treatment. The efficiency of the cell was 10.3 % when the CdTe between CdS and CdTe during processing reduces the amount
absorber layer 2.5 μm and it was 8 % when the CdTe absorber of recombination current at the interface.
layer of 1 μm.[47] An efficient and with stable back contacts Lin et al.[58] reported that the effect of MoOx thickness,
solar cell of efficiency 12.7 % [48] obtained by vacuum when it is around 40 nm with which the highest cell efficiency
evaporated Sb or Sb2Te3 buffer and Mo layer. It is observed of 12.2%, obtained along with excellent FF and Voc, it was
that impurities in CdTe source material may also influence the with the thickness of 100 nm for CBD CdS and 4 μm of CSS
performance of solar cells. These impurities affect the carrier CdTe with CdCl2 treatment at temperature 575 and 635 °C for
concentration profile and tend to diffuse across heterojunction; substrate and source temperature, respectively. The CdTe
quite often, they are detrimental for the efficiency. Solar cell growth rate was about 1 μm per second. Pookpanratana et al.[59]
fabricated without an anti-reflecting coating of area 0.64 cm2 reported that the CdCl2 treatment induces S atoms to migrate
and cell efficiency 14.6 % with CdCl2 treatmentin the from the CdS layer towards back contact but no S atoms reach
fabrication of the CdS layer and Sb2Te3 back contact. Some the back surface. Furthermore, CdCl2 treatment affects the
mismatch of CdS and CdTe is approximately 10 % but at morphology and chemical structure of subsequently deposited
temperature 500 °C, the mismatch can remove and CdS/CdTe Au/Cu layer. The back contact treatment alone leaves the back
mix very easily with CdTe.[49] For the heterojunction thin-film surface dominated by Au and Cu with Cu being driven towards
solar cell, deposition of n-CdS and p-CdTe by periodic pulse the back surface and Au towards CdTe absorber.
electrodeposition and annealed at 400 °C for 15 min and the Bai et al.[60] reported that efficiency of 7.9 % was obtained
ohmic contact were Cu and Au and efficiency was 10.1 %. [50] for 1μm thick CdTe solar cells and it absorbs 99 % solar
From the efficiency, it concludes that maximum efficiency of spectrum with photon energy above the bandgap. When the

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absorber layer thickness was reduced to below ~1 μm, a layers Cd1-xZnxS/CdS/CdTe and solar cell structures at 80 and
shunting path could be relatively easily induced due to the 600 °C, respectively with CdCl2 treatment. The thickness of
structural and electrical non-uniformity in the micro-scale. CdS film was 0.035 μm and the efficiency of 8.6 % while
The density of recombination centers within the space charge CdS/CdTe solar cell further annealed in the CSS reactor
region was increased due to the not well-formed CdS/ CdTe chamber in H2 ambient for about 15 min and the efficiency of
junction and in the diffusion of Cu from back contact. Unlike 11.4% with increasing Voc. Romeo[68] reported in his Ph.D.
most semiconductor devices, the sudden interfaces lead to the thesis about CdS layers were grown in an ultra-high vacuum
lower CdTe solar cell conversion efficiency. It is due to the evaporation chamber at a substrate temperature of 150 °C and
slow interface due to inter-diffusion represents reduced lattice annealed at 450 °C for recrystallization then without breaking
mismatch and lower interface defect density, resulting in vacuum CdTe is deposited at 300 °C. The thickness of CdS
improved cell efficiency. Secondly, tunneling is undesirable in and CdTe films was about 0.5 μm and 3 to 4 μm respectively
CdTe devices because it increases the leakage current and the with CdCl2 treatment on CdTe with different thicknesses.
smooth interface decreases the amount of tunneling and Solar cell performance depends on the amount of CdCl2 and
interfaces recombination due to reduced interface states. The type of TCO. For FTO solar cell, 60 nm CdCl2 have low Voc
highest efficiency of cell 10 % due to Cd and Te ratio much (730 mV) and low FF (50) while for 600 nm treated cells have
less than 1 or 0.85 i.e. high-efficiency cell tends to have a Te- Voc in the range of 800-836 mV and FF in the range of 64 to
rich surface.[61-62] 70%. While on ITO solar cells, 60nm CdCl2 has high Voc (810-
Rakhshani[63] reported that solar cells of p-CdTe and n-CdS 838 mV) and FF of 60% compared to the CdCl2 of 600 nm
structure with a conversion efficiency of 10 (±1) % were with Voc 710-770 mV and FF 50 % and this may be due to
prepared by electrodeposition of CdTe on CBD CdS coated enhanced migration of Cu in CdTe. The efficiency of the solar
conducting glass. The annealing assisted diffusion of S yields cells does not depend only on the grain size of CdTe but also
an interfacial region in CdTe in which 6 % of tellurium atom influenced by CdTe-CdS intermixing. After CdCl2 treatment
replaced by sulfur and cell performance of efficiency of 9.3%. ~150 nm thickness of the CBD CdS layer having a low-
Batzner et al. [64] reported CdTe/CdS deposited by CSS on efficiency range of 5 to 6% and Voc= 720 mV. The poor
TCO coated soda-lime glass with Au/Sb on a back contact. performance of CBD CdS with
The average efficiency of 12.5 % was by etched CdTe layer 5-6 % efficiency is attributed to the presence of pinholes and
i.e. short etching times were sufficient for good efficiency. The excessive intermixing.
etching with a mixture of concentrated nitric and phosphoric Ferekids et al.[69] reported that CBD CdS deposited to a
acid produces a low resistive Te rich surface on the CdTe thickness of 600-1000 Å annealing in H2 and CSS CdTe
absorber layer. All solar cells with Sb/Au and Cu/Au back deposited to a thickness of 4-8 μm after a post-deposition heat
contact on nitric-phosphoric acid-etched CdTe do not require treatment at 400 °C. The surface structure was chemically
annealing. However, it is not possible to get rid of the rollover treated to achieve a Te-rich CdTe surface and back contact
in I-V characteristics through annealing unlike for the solar with the CdTe was formed by applying doped graphite paste.
cells with Cu/Au back contacts on Br MeOH etched absorber The effect of a substrate temperature decreases (from 625 to
layers. 570 °C) and the thickness of CdS increased, the efficiency of
Proskuryakov et al.[65] reported different efficiencies for solar cells continuously decreases (from 15.8 to 14.5 %) with
CdTe/CdS solar cells. The devices consist of ITO glass and slightly changing Voc. CdTe/CdS films were deposited at ~260
ZnO of 60 nm deposited followed by 240 nm of CdS and ºC on FTO by using magnetron sputtering. The optimized
further by 4 μm of CdTe doped with metal-organic chemical thickness of the CdS and CdTe layer were 0.13μm and 2.3 μm
vapor deposition and CdCl2 layer of 600 nm thick, annealed at respectively. CdTe thickness varied from 0.6 to 1.28 μm and
400 °C for 10 min. under hydrogen. To create Te rich layer at the cell structure was treated in the vapor of CdCl2 ~390 °C in
the back surface, its efficiencies were maximum with Au/CdTe dry air. The performance of the solar cell changes with
and Au/As doped /CdTe as 8 and 10.5 %, respectively. But changing the thickness of CdTe and CdS thin films.[70] The Jsc
with the ZnO layer for films and as doping were small of cells almost remains the same, the Voc decreased as the
resulting lower efficiency as 6.5 %. CdTe thickness decreases. The FF of cells depends strongly on
CBD CdS and CSS CdTe under dry CdCl2 annealing back contact processing and the minimum efficiency of the
process with nitric phosphoric etch, it creates a highly p-type cell were 4.3 % for 0.08 μm thickness of CdS and 0.6 μm of
region near back contact for improving contact quality. The CdTe and the maximum efficiency 13 % for 0.13μm thickness
best device without an anti-reflecting coating exhibited an of CdS and 2.3 μm thickness for CdTe.
NREL verified efficiency of 15.3% and the buffer layer has Bosio [71] reported that solar cells fabricated by the
been crucial for good results.[66] Oladegi et al[67] reported that conditions of sputtering CdS on ITO of thickness 70-120 nm,
CBD and CSS were used to grow the window and absorber CSS CdTe of thickness 4-7μm. With heat treatment at 380-

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Fig. 5 Cross-sectional SEM images of the CdTe/CdS solar cells with: (a) as-deposited CdS; (c) air- annealed CdS and (e) CdCl2-
annealed CdS. The corresponding cell J-V curves (b), (d) and (f) are shown besides the SEM images, respectively, reproduced with
permission from [73].

420 °C with Cl2 and it recrystallizes the nano-grains and the oxides on the CdS surface. The CdTe solar cell efficiency of
typical parameters with an efficiency 15.8% can be measured 6.48%, a value almost half of the solar cell which used the
and they conclude that for obtaining high efficiency to deposit CdCl2-annealed CdS as the window layer. So, the results
CdTe by CSS in presence of O2. Flores et al[72] reported the demonstrate that CdCl2 heat treatment is very important to
efficiency of CdTe/CdS solar cells more than 14 improve the performance of the solar cell.
% activated with HCF2Cl gas on ITO. CdTe was deposited by Gretener et al.[74] grows CdS/CdTe solar cells on
CSS at low substrate temperature, and CdS was deposited by borosilicate glass substrates. Different metallic back contacts
sputtering at substrate temperature 250 °C. were tested for the efficiency of CdS/CdTe solar cell. Cu, Sb,
Baiet et al.[73] reported that the good crystalline quality of Te, and MoO3 were evaporated by the high vacuum system
both the CdTe/CdS junction and the absorption layer ensured and ZnO/ZnO: Al bilayer with thickness 100 and 800 nm
a high short circuit current and this type of CdTe solar cell respectively for the front contact by r-f magnetron sputtering.
showed the lowest series resistance of 4.61 Ωcm2 and the The efficiency of the single-treated cells (CdCl2 treatment)
highest efficiency of 12.4% with a high short circuit current of increases with higher Cu with Cu is harmful to double treated
25.4 mA/cm2 in Fig. 5. The CdTe solar cell, which used an air- cells. The stability and efficiency of CdS/CdTe solar cells
annealed CdS window layer, showed the worst cell tested with the different buffer layers and was maximum (η =
performance with an efficiency of only 5.12 %. Somewhere 11.3 %) for Cu/Te/MoO3 and minimum (η = 6.1%) for Cu/Sb
the CdTe/CdS interface, large pin-holes with a diameter of it is due to Cu containing always tend to degrade faster than
about 100 nm formed. Such a solar cell had the largest series Cu free cells.
resistance and the smallest fill factor due to the formation of

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Fig. 6 SEM images of the CdTe film deposited at substrate temperatures of 340 and 520 °C, reproduced with permission from [79]

Asher et al.[75] discussed that the diffusion of Cu and its range of 38.5 to 47.8 mA/cm2 for CdS/ CdTe and ZnS/ CdTe
unfavorable effect were studied extensively in the CdS but thin films respectively, deposited by
Zhou et al. reported that a small amount of Cu for the back electrodeposition method.
[76] [82]

contact enhanced the cell efficiency. Mohamed et al.[77] A Romeo et al.[83] discussed a new simplified method of
reported that the reflection losses in the interfaces between deposition of CdTe/CdS on a soda-lime glass substrate, in this
glass-ITO-CdS-CdTe decrease short circuit current from 31.2 work CdS layer is deposited by RF sputtering in an Ar+CHF3
to 28.2 mA/cm2. For the thickness of 100 nm for both CdS and atmosphere. CdTe layer is at room temperature and without
ITO, the optical and recombination processed leads into loss using any nontoxic gas and step of treatment CdCl2 is removed.
of the efficiency of CdS/CdTe solar cells in the range of 12– In this work As2Te3+Cu, stable back contact is used. I-V
16%. characteristics of cells show 15.8 % conversion efficiency and
N. Romeo's research group deposit ZnO, CdS, and back short circuit current are 27 mA/cm2. Christina et al report the
contact layer by sputtering, and CdTe layer is deposited by different back contact buffer layer such as Cu, Te, Sb, and
close space sublimation process without Freon and CdCl2 MoO3 and their effect on the performance of the solar cell.
treatment. Reported that the effect of CdTe film drying in the Cu/Te/MoO3 buffer layer shows 11.3 % efficiency, which is
air the efficiency of the solar cell is 13.82% which is slightly best as compared to other buffer layers because the cell
greater than before annealing in air efficiency is 12 %.[78] containing Cu always tends to degrade faster than Cu free cell.
Schaffner J. et al study the effect of annealing temperature on Buffer layer MoO3 /Te which is without Cu was investigated
the performance of CdTe/ CdS thin-film solar cells having and showed 10 % efficiency.[84]
efficiency up to 12%. Morphological study (Fig. 6 ) shows that Paul NR. et al studied various thickness CdTe/ CdS films
the CdTe film deposit at a substrate temperature of 340 °C in the range of 0.25 to 2.1μm deposited by the magnetron
shows smaller grain size and lower roughness are observed for sputtering method. The film deposited by RF magnetron
CdTe films deposited than samples deposited with a higher sputtering having optimum control of the grain and grain
substrate temperature.[79] boundary morphology needed for the good performance of the
The standard CBD method is also important for the device. As thickness is increases efficiency of the film is
deposition of CdS thin film for CdTe solar cells achieve 8.31% slightly improved in the range of 7 to 12.6 %.[85]
efficiency.[80] Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) is also the best GS Khyrypunov et al. and Echendu et al. discussed the
method for the deposition of thin films like CSS, CBD, and impact of chloride treatment and Freon gas treatment on the
sputter deposition. Li B et al demonstrate the PLD method for CdTe base layer. Chloride treated solar cells shows maximum
CdS/CdTe thin-film solar cells achieving 6.68% efficiency.[81] efficiency i.e. (11.07) and Freon gas treated solar cell with 7.2 %
Chengdu O. K et al. report high short circuit current in the efficiency.[86,87] As mention earlier, annealing of CdS/CdTe

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film strongly affects on performance, annealing of CdS film in important for the performance. To avoid the diffusion in the
the presence of H2 gas removes the oxygen compounds from development of an appropriate buffer layer between the CdTe
the grain boundaries and opens them for the formation of substrates. The low efficiency of CdTe/CdS is due to poor
shortcutting the through the CdS layer, efficiency of the cell, back contact, appropriate choice of deposition method, and
in this case, is 4.5%. But when CdS film is annealed in the substrates. Till CdTe/CdS solar cells will be a very strong
presence of air performance of CdS/CdTe is 11.4 % which is candidate to resolve the global issues regarding energy crises
drastically higher than the previous case main reason for this and low-cost solar cells in the future.
improvement is an oxide which resides on the grain surface Acknowledgments
and penetrates grain boundaries of CdS.[88] Ojo et al. highlight The authors acknowledge the Department of Science and
the effect the inclusion of Ga to the regular CdCl2 post-growth Technology, Government of India for financial support vide
treatment on the material and doping of Ga improves the Sanction order DST/TMD/SERI/S173 (G).
electronic properties.[89]
Shen et al. reports the performance of CdTe thin-film solar Conflict of Interest
under low light intensity, this results demonstrate that There are no conflicts to declare.
polycrystalline CdTe thin-film solar cell is intrinsically
suitable for electric power generation at weak light intensity Support information
irradiance. This study provides constructive guidelines for the Not applicable
future design and fabrication of CdTe based solar cells.[90]

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