Rapid thermal evaporation for cadmium selenide thin-film solar cells

doi:10.1007/s12200-021-1217-1

Front. Optoelectron.

2021, Vol. 14

Issue (4) : 482-490 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-021-1217-1

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Rapid thermal evaporation for cadmium selenide thin-film solar cells

Kanghua LI¹, Xuetian LIN^1,², Boxiang SONG¹, Rokas KONDROTAS³, Chong WANG¹, Yue LU^1,², Xuke YANG¹, Chao CHEN¹(

), Jiang TANG^1,²

¹. Sargent Joint Research Center, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics (WNLO), School of Optical and Electronic Information, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
². China-EU Institute for Clean and Renewable Energy (ICARE), Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
³. State Research Institute, Center for Physical Sciences and Technology, Vilnius 02300, Lithuania

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Abstract

Cadmium selenide (CdSe) belongs to the binary II-VI group semiconductor with a direct bandgap of ~1.7 eV. The suitable bandgap, high stability, and low manufacturing cost make CdSe an extraordinary candidate as the top cell material in silicon-based tandem solar cells. However, only a few studies have focused on CdSe thin-film solar cells in the past decades. With the advantages of a high deposition rate (~2 µm/min) and high uniformity, rapid thermal evaporation (RTE) was used to maximize the use efficiency of CdSe source material. A stable and pure hexagonal phase CdSe thin film with a large grain size was achieved. The CdSe film demonstrated a 1.72 eV bandgap, narrow photoluminescence peak, and fast photoresponse. With the optimal device structure and film thickness, we finally achieved a preliminary efficiency of 1.88% for CdSe thin-film solar cells, suggesting the applicability of CdSe thin-film solar cells.

Keywords cadmium selenide (CdSe) rapid thermal evaporation (RTE) solar cells thin film

Corresponding Author(s): Chao CHEN

Just Accepted Date: 16 April 2021 Online First Date: 14 May 2021 Issue Date: 06 December 2021

Cite this article:

Kanghua LI,Xuetian LIN,Boxiang SONG, et al. Rapid thermal evaporation for cadmium selenide thin-film solar cells[J]. Front. Optoelectron., 2021, 14(4): 482-490.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/foe/EN/10.1007/s12200-021-1217-1
https://academic.hep.com.cn/foe/EN/Y2021/V14/I4/482

Fig.1 (a) Schematic diagram of RTE. (b) Curves of the saturation vapor pressure of Cd, Se, and CdSe with temperature. (c) XRD spectra of CdSe powder and thin film

Fig.2 Optoelectronic properties of CdSe films. (a) Transmittance and PL spectra of CdSe thin film. (b) UPS spectra of CdSe thin film. The inset is the zoom-in image in the range of 0–2.5 eV. (c) I–V curves and (d) I–t curve of CdSe photo-conductance type detector under dark and 530 nm LED illumination

Fig.3 (a) Device structure schematic of CdSe thin-film solar cell. (b) Schematic diagram of energy band structure and charge transfer in CdSe solar cell. (c) J–V curves of CdSe solar cells with PEDOT, CuI, and PEDOT/CuI as HTL. (d) J–V curves of CdSe solar cells with TiO₂/CdS and ZnO/CdS as ETL

Fig.4 (a)–(c) Surface SEM images and (d)–(f) cross-sectional SEM images of CdSe thin film with different thicknesses

Fig.5 (a) J–V curves and (b) EQE spectra of CdSe thin-film solar cells with different CdSe thickness. The schematic diagram of holes collection as minority light generated carrier in (c) the thick device and (d) the thin device

Tab.1 Device performance of CdSe solar cell with different thicknesses

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