Thin-film CdS/CdTe solar cell with 15.05% efficiency

Cadmium Telluride is the most promising photovoltaic material as low cost, high efficiency solar cells. In this work, two types of CdS/CdTe solar cells are investigated. One is fabricated by screen printing and sintering CdS and CdTe formation process. The other type is fabricated using CdS films deposited by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and p-CdTe film deposited by close-spaced sublimation (CSS) method. By the analysis of the X-ray diffraction patterns, the orientation of the sintered CdS film and the sintered CdTe film is almost random, whereas the crystal structure of the CVD-CdS film is hexagonal, and strongly oriented. The CSS-CdTe film strongly oriented, too. Solar cells of 1 cm/sup 2/ with an efficiency of 15.05% under AM 1.5, have been prepared from CVD-CdS/CSS-CdTe films.