Preparation and characterization of ZnS/CdS bi-layer for CdTe solar cell application

In this work, bilayer ZnS/CdS film was prepared as an improved window layer of CdTe solar cell. TEM was used to observe the cross section of the bilayer structure. The total thickness of ZnS/CdS film was about 60 nm, which could allow more photons to pass through it and contribute to the photocurrent. Optical properties of the bilayers were investigated using UV-vis spectroscopy. Compared with poor transmission of standard CdS film in the short wavelength range of 350-550 nm, the transmission of ZnS/CdS was improved and reached above 50%. The ZnS/CdS was annealed with CdCl2. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to investigate its chemical properties. A possible diffusion between CdS and ZnS was observed after annealing. The efficiency of standard CdS/CdTe solar cell was 9.53%. The device based on ZnS/CdS window layer had a poor 6% efficiency. With annealing treatment on ZnS/CdS layer, the performance was improved and reached 10.3%. In addition, the homogeneity of solar cell performance was improved using ZnS/CdS window layer. A thin ZnS layer was quite effective to reduce the possible shunt paths and short parts of window layer and consequently contributed to fabrication of a homogeneous CdTe solar cell. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.