PHOTOVOLTAIC PROPERTIES OF SINTERED CDS/CDTE SOLAR-CELLS DOPED WITH CU

All polycrystalline CdS/CdTe solar cells doped with Cu have been prepared by a screen printing and sintering method. Cell parameters of the sintered CdS/CdTe solar cells have been investigated in an attempt to find out the optimum doping conditions and concentrations of Cu by adding various amounts of CuCl2 either into CdTe layer or into back contact carbon layer. Cell parameters of the sintered CdS/CdTe solar cells which contained various amounts of CuCl2 in the CdTe layers before sintering stay at about the same values as the amount of CuCl2 increases up to 25 ppm, and then decreases sharply as the amount of CuCl2 further increases. The Cu added in the CdTe layer diffuses into the CdS layer during the sintering of the CdS-CdTe composite at 625-degrees-C to densify the CdTe layer and causes the decrease in the optical transmission of CdS resulting in the degradation of the cell performance. In case the Cu dopant was dispersed in the back carbon paint and was followed by annealing, all cell parameters are improved significantly compared with those fabricated by adding CuCl2 in the CdTe layer before sintering. A sintered CdS/CdTe solar cell which contained 2 5 ppm CuCl, in the carbon paste and was annealed at 350-degrees-C for 10 min shows the highest efficiency. The efficiency of this cell is 12.4% under solar irradiation with an intensity of 80.4 mW/cm2.