Influence of CuxS back contact on CdTe thin film solar cells

We present a detailed study on CuxS polycrystalline thin films prepared by chemical bath method and utilized as back contact material for CdTe solar cells. The characteristics of the films deposited on Si-substrate are studied by XRD. The results show that as-deposited CuxS thin film is in an amorphous phase while after annealing, samples are in polycrystalline phases with increasing temperature. The thickness of CuxS thin films has great impact on the performance of CdS/CdTe solar cells. When the thickness of the film is about 75 nm the performance of CdS/CdTe thin film solar cells is found to be the best. The energy conversion efficiency can be higher than 12.19%, the filling factor is higher than 68.82% and the open-circuit voltage is more than 820 mV.