Brief review of cadmium telluride-based photovoltaic technologies

Cadmium telluride (CdTe) is the most commercially successful thin-film photovoltaic technology. Development of CdTe as a solar cell material dates back to the early 1980s when similar to 10% efficient devices were demonstrated. Implementation of better quality glass, more transparent conductive oxides, introduction of a high-resistivity transparent film under the CdS junction-partner, higher deposition temperatures, and improved Cl-treatment, doping, and contacting approaches yielded >16% efficient cells in the early 2000s. Around the same time period, use of a photoresist plug monolithic integration process facilitated the demonstration of the first 11% efficient module. The most dramatic advancements in CdTe device efficiencies were made during the 2013 to 2014 time frame when small-area cell conversion efficiency was raised to 20% range and a champion module efficiency of 17% was reported. CdTe technology is attractive in terms of its limited life-cycle greenhouse gas and heavy metal emissions, small carbon footprint, and short energy payback times. Limited Te availability is a challenge for the growth of this technology unless Te utilization rates are greatly enhanced along with device efficiencies. (C) The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.