Cadmium Telluride Solar Cells on Ultrathin Glass for Space Applications

Irvine, Stuart J, Lamb, D.A., Clayton, Andrew J, Kartopu, Giray and Barrioz, Vincent (2014) Cadmium Telluride Solar Cells on Ultrathin Glass for Space Applications. Journal of Electronic Materials, 43 (8). pp. 2818-2823. ISSN 0361-5235

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Abstract

This paper details the preliminary findings of a study to achieve a durable thin film CdTe photovoltaic device structure onto ultra-thin space qualified cover glass. An aluminium doped zinc oxide (AZO) transparent conducting oxide (TCO) was deposited directly onto cover glass using metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD). The AZO demonstrated a low sheet resistance of 10 Ω/□ and high optical transparency of 85% as well as an excellent adherence and environmental stability. Preliminary deposition of the photovoltaic layers onto the AZO on cover glass, by MOCVD, showed the possibility of such a structure yielding a device conversion efficiency of 7.2 %. High series resistance (10 Ω.cm2) and low Voc (586 mV) were identified as the limiting factors when compared to the authors platform process on indium tin oxide (ITO) coated aluminosilicate. The coverage of the Cd1-xZnxS window layer along with the front contacting of the device was shown to be the major cause of the low efficiency. Further deposition of the AZO/CdTe employing an oxygen plasma cleaning step to the cover glass and evaporated gold front contacts significantly improved the device performance. A best conversion efficiency of 10.2 % with series resistance improved to 4.4 Ω.cm2 and open circuit voltage (Voc) up to 667 mV and good adhesion has demonstrated for the first time direct deposition of CdTe solar cells onto 100 μm thick space qualified cover glass.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Copyright 2014 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted.Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other users, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted components of this work in other works.
Keywords: Photovoltaic, flexible solar cells, cadmium telluride, Space applications
Divisions: Applied Science, Computing and Engineering
Depositing User: Mr Stewart Milne
Date Deposited: 18 Sep 2014 14:04
Last Modified: 15 May 2018 09:34
URI: https://wrexham.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/id/eprint/7200

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