Abstracts Book - IMRC 2018

• SC4-P070
STUDY ON THE ACTIVATION OF CdTe/CdS JUNCTION WITH MgCl2
Clara Luz Mendoza González 1 , Martin Gregorio Reyes Banda 2 , Eulises Regalado Perez 2 , José
Juan Jerónimo Rendon 1 , Hector Juárez Santiesteban 1 , Xavier Mathew 2
1 Benemerita Universidad Autonoma de Puebla, Semiconductor Devices, Mexico. 2 Instituto de
EnergÍas Renovables Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Solar Cells, Mexico.
Today cadmium telluride (CdTe) is one of the leading materials in thin film
photovoltaic technology. In CdTe/CdS solar cells junction activation is the most
important step in the device processing and the known effects of this activation
process include the recrystallization leading to grain growth, passivation of the
grain boundaries, slight doping of CdTe, change in carrier concentration,
modification of defect centers, formation of ternary compound due to
interdiffusion of S and Te, etc. The traditional and proven junction activation
agent is CdCl2, however it has the disadvantage of toxicity. Hence an alternative
to CdCl2 is highly attractive in device processing. Among the various chloride
sources, recently MgCl2 demonstrated comparable results with that CdCl2 in
junction activation [1, 2]. This work reports some of our experimental results on
the junction activation of CdTe/CdS using MgCl2. The devices were fabricated
using chemical bath deposited CdS as buffer layer and CSS deposited CdTe. The
results from different analysis such as XRD, SEM, I-V, C-V, EQE, etc., are
discussed.
References
A low-cost non-toxic post-grow activation step for CdTe solar cells. J.D. Major,
R.E. Trecharne, L.J. Philips, K. Durose. Nature, Julio 2014.
CdTe/CdS solar cell junction activation: study using MgCl2 as an environment
friendly substitute to traditional CdCl2. G. Angeles-Ordóñez, E. Regalado-Pérez;
M.G Reyes-Banda; N.R Mathews, X. Mathew, Submitted to Solar Energy Materials
and Solar Cells- Elsevier, Octubre 2016.
Acknowledgment: Acknowledgements: This work at IER-UNAM was supported
by the project CeMIE-Sol P25. Mendoza-González acknowledge the financial
support from CeMIE-Sol for her B.S project work. Authors thank Rogelio M.
Elvira, and Ma. Luisa R. Garcia for SEM, and XRD analysis respectively. Gildardo
C. Segura provided the general technical support in the CSS laboratory.
Keywords: CdTe/CdS, thermal treatment, Activation
Presenting authors email: luz255_@hotmail.com