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Band offsets at the back contact and front window layer in CdTe-based solar cells affect photovoltaic performance and challenge standard characterization methods. By analyzing the temperature and excitation dependence of both open circuit voltage and absolute photoluminescence intensity, we show that the effects band offsets can be separated from the effects of recombination and shunting. Solar cells were grown with MgZnO window layers and compared to cells with CdS window layers containing varying amounts of oxygen. It was demonstrated that band alignment rather than reduced recombination velocity is the reason for the success of MgZnO as a front interface contact. An assortment of thin back contact interlayers were also deposited, and a PbTe interlayer showed some promise as an Ohmic contact to the CdTe, though it appears to induce a photoconductive shunt. Finally, we show that the shunting resistance given by a standard current-voltage curve technique generally does not represent a physically meaningful quantity unless it is well below one kiloOhm square cm.

Iodine-doped CdMgTe/CdSeTe double heterostructures (DHs) have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy and studied using time-resolved photoluminescence (PL), focusing on absorber layer thickness of 2 μm. The n-type free carrier concentration was varied to ∼7 × 1015 cm−3, 8.4 × 1016 cm−3, and 8.4 × 1017 cm−3 using iodine as dopant in DHs. Optical injection at 1 × 1010 photons/pulse/cm2 to 3 × 1011 photons/pulse/cm2, corresponding to initial injection of photocarriers up to ∼8 × 1015 cm−3, was applied to examine the effects of excess carrier concentration on the PL lifetimes. Iodine-doped DHs exhibited an initial rapid decay followed by a slower decay at free carrier concentration of 7 × 1015 cm−3 and 8.4 × 1016 cm−3. The optical injection dependence of the carrier lifetimes for DHs was interpreted based on the Shockley–Read–Hall model. The observed decrease in lifetime with increasing n is consistent with growing importance of radiative recombination.

Iodine-doped CdTe and Cd1−x Mg x Te layers were grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Secondary ion mass spectrometry characterization was used to measure dopant concentration, while Hall measurement was used for determining carrier concentration. Photoluminescence intensity and time-resolved photoluminescence techniques were used for optical characterization. Maximum n-type carrier concentrations of 7.4 × 1018 cm−3 for CdTe and 3 × 1017 cm−3 for Cd0.65Mg0.35Te were achieved. Studies suggest that electrically active doping with iodine is limited with dopant concentration much above these values. Dopant activation of about 80% was observed in most of the CdTe samples. The estimated activation energy is about 6 meV for CdTe and the value for Cd0.65Mg0.35Te is about 58 meV. Iodine-doped samples exhibit long lifetimes with no evidence of photoluminescence degradation with doping as high as 2 × 1018 cm−3, while indium shows substantial non-radiative recombination at carrier concentrations above 5 × 1016 cm−3. Iodine was shown to be thermally stable in CdTe at temperatures up to 600°C. Results suggest iodine may be a preferred n-type dopant compared to indium in achieving heavily doped n-type CdTe.

Here, we report doping of cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin film solar cells using copper (II) chloride (CuCl 2 ) solution in deionized water. The CdTe thin films were immersed in 0.1 mmol CuCl 2 solution in water and annealed in the temperature range of 180 – 240 °C for various time durations. The devices were completed using thermally evaporated gold (Au) and measured under simulated AM1.5G spectrum. The average device efficiency of CuCl 2 treated CdTe devices increased to 13.7 % (best cell reaching 14.0%) with significant improvement on open-circuit voltage (V OC ) as compared with 12.4% (best cell 12.7%) for thermally evaporated Cu doped CdTe devices. For CuCl 2 treated CdTe devices, we found higher photoluminescence (PL) intensity and longer carrier life time at room temperature indicating solution based doping offers better control of Cu doping density as compared with evaporated Cu.

A limited series of uniform composition CdSeTe alloys and a CdMgTe alloy were grown via molecular beam epitaxy and measured with x-ray photoemission spectroscopy to determine valence band offsets (VBO) with CdTe. We present an alternative to the Kraut method for VBO determination in ternary alloy systems, which does not require determination of the valence band maxima, often a significant source of error in VBO determination. VBOs determined using two different etching sources agreed well with temperature dependent current-voltage data as well as with recent theoretical work, and a linear fit of the VBO data presented here predicts a VBO between CdTe/CdSe a factor two to three times smaller than previously reported.

Molecular beam epitaxial growth on CdTe substrates is challenging since the CdTe film crystalline and optical quality is limited by residual defects including threading dislocations and stacking faults. This remains an obstacle in spite of exhausting variables including pre-growth substrate preparation as well as epitaxial growth conditions including thermal oxide desorption, growth temperature, and II/VI flux ratios. We propose a new technique to re-grow structures with low defect densities and high optical and structural quality on InSb substrates. The “CdTe virtual wafer” is made by growing a thin CdTe film on an InSb(1 0 0) substrate which is then covered with a thin As cap layer to prevent oxidation of the CdTe surface. The As cap can be removed by thermal desorption at about 300 C leaving a clean CdTe surface for subsequent epitaxial growth. This method eliminates the need for chemical etching of CdTe substrates which has been found to lead to an atomically rough surface with residual Carbon and Oxygen contamination. XRD and SEM characterization show a smooth transition from the buffer CdTe to re-grown CdTe layer with identical crystalline quality as for virtual wafer. Steady-state PL and time-resolved PL from CdTe/CdMgTe double heterostructures show substantial improvement in luminescence intensity and carrier lifetime comparable to values for identical samples grown without exposure to atmosphere. We will also report on CdTe/CdZnTe double heterostructures grown on virtual wafers compared to identical structures on conventional CdTe(2 1 1)B substrates.

Intensity-resolved and time-resolved PL are shown to be powerful tools for analyzing recombination in epitaxial CdTe appropriate for photovoltaic applications. Non-radiative defects such as dislocations are easily mapped and quantified by confocal photoluminescence. Very low dislocation density and twin content, as well as very high luminescence efficiency and measured lifetime (450 ns), can be achieved by Se-alloying to lattice match CdTeSe to InSb substrates. Analysis suggests the bulk lifetime for epitaxial CdTeSe is in excess of 700 ns.

Electrical and Optical measurements were carried out on permalloy oxide (PyO) thin films made by reactive dual ion beam sputtering at room temperature. VSM measurements at room temperature and 15 Kelvin did not reveal any magnetic moment in 120 nm thick films. The optical refraction and extinction spectra from 200-1000 nm were determined from ellipsometry measurements using a Cody-Lorentz model and provided in a reproducible method to determine the film thickness of PyO films on different substrate materials. PyO is transparent above 700 nm and is strongly absorbing below 500 nm. The resistivity values of PyO samples sputtered at room temperature depend on the oxygen flow rate and is approximately 4E3 Ohm cm for films prepared at 10 sccm. The resistivity of PyO decreases as a function of temperature. The dielectric constant is strongly frequency dependent, decreasing from 500 at 500 Hz to 10 at 1 MHz.

Time-resolved and time integrated photoluminescence (PL) studies are reported for undoped and doped CdMgTe/CdSeTe double heterostructures (DHs) grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Undoped DHs are studied with absorber layer thickness varying from 0.5 to 2.5 µm. The n-type free-carrier concentration is varied ~7 × 1015, 8.4 × 1016, and 8.4 × 1017 cm−3 using iodine as a dopant in different absorber layer thicknesses (0.25–2.0 µm). Optical injection is varied from 1 × 1010 to 3 × 1011 photons/pulse/cm2, corresponding to the initial injection of photo-carriers up to ~8 × 1015 cm−3, to examine the effects of excess carrier concentration on the PL lifetimes. Undoped DHs exhibit an initial rapid decay followed by a slower dependence with carrier lifetimes up to ~485 ns. The dependence of carrier lifetimes on the thickness of the absorber layers (0.5–2.5 µm) suggests interface recombination velocities () ~ 1288 and 238 cm s−1 in the initial and later decay times, respectively, corresponding to high and low photo-carrier concentrations. The Shockley–Read–Hall model is used to describe the results in which variations are observed in for undoped DHs. The lifetimes of doped DHs show a consistent trend with thickness. The ~ 80–200 cm s−1 is estimated for doping n ~ 7 × 1015 cm−3 and 240–410 cm s−1 for n ~ 8.4 × 1016 cm−3. The observed decrease in carrier lifetimes with increasing n is consistent with growing importance of the radiative recombination rate due to the excess carrier concentration. The effect of carrier concentration on the PL spectrum is also discussed.

CdSeTe/CdMgTe double heterostructures were produced with both n-type and unintentionally doped absorber layers. Measurements of the dependence of photoluminescence intensity on excitation intensity were carried out, as well as measurements of time-resolved photoluminescence decay after an excitation pulse. It was found that decay times under very low photon injection conditions are dominated by a non-radiative Shockley-Read-Hall process described using a recombination center with an asymmetric capture cross section, where the cross section for holes is larger than that for electrons. As a result of the asymmetry, the center effectively extends photoluminescence decay by a hole trapping phenomenon. A reduction in electron capture cross section appeared at doping densities over 1016cm−3. An analysis of the excitation intensity dependence of room temperature photoluminescence revealed a strong relationship with doping concentration. This allows estimates of the carrier concentration to be made through a non-destructive optical method. Iodine was found to be an effective n-type dopant for CdTe, allowing controllable carrier concentrations without an increased rate of non-radiative recombination.

Heterostructures with CdTe and CdTe1-xSex (x ∼ 0.01) absorbers between two wider-band-gap Cd1-xMgxTe barriers (x ∼ 0.25–0.3) were grown by molecular beam epitaxy to study carrier generation and recombination in bulk materials with passivated interfaces. Using a combination of confocal photoluminescence (PL), time-resolved PL, and low-temperature PL emission spectroscopy, two extended defect types were identified and the impact of these defects on charge-carrier recombination was analyzed. The dominant defects identified by confocal PL were dislocations in samples grown on (211)B CdTe substrates and crystallographic twinning-related defects in samples on (100)-oriented InSb substrates. Low-temperature PL shows that twin-related defects have a zero-phonon energy of 1.460 eV and a Huang-Rhys factor of 1.50, while dislocation-dominated samples have a 1.473-eV zero-phonon energy and a Huang-Rhys factor of 1.22. The charge carrier diffusion length near both types of defects is ∼6 μm, suggesting that recombinati...

Double heterostructures (DH) were produced consisting of a CdTe film between two wide band gap barriers of CdMgTe alloy. A combined method was developed to quantify radiative and non-radiative recombination rates by examining the dependence of photoluminescence (PL) on both excitation intensity and time. The measured PL characteristics, and the interface state density extracted by modeling, indicate that the radiative efficiency of CdMgTe/CdTe DHs is comparable to that of AlGaAs/GaAs DHs, with interface state densities in the low 1010 cm−2 and carrier lifetimes as long as 240 ns. The radiative recombination coefficient of CdTe is found to be near 10−10 cm3s−1. CdTe film growth on bulk CdTe substrates resulted in a homoepitaxial interface layer with a high non-radiative recombination rate.

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