NDLI: The significance of substrate surfaces in flexible thin film CdTe solar cells fabrication

Content Provider	IEEE Xplore Digital Library
Author	Aliyu, M.M. Hamzah, N.R. Islam, A. Matin, M.A. Karim, R. Sopian, K. Amin, N.
Copyright Year	2012
Description	Author affiliation: Department of Electrical, Electronics and Systems Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Selangor, Malaysia (Aliyu, M.M.; Hamzah, N.R.; Islam, A.; Matin, M.A.; Amin, N.) \|\| Center of Excellence for Research in Engineering Materials (CEREM) College of Engineering, King Saud University, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia (Karim, R.) \|\| Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Selangor, Malaysia (Sopian, K.)
Abstract	Thin film CdTe solar cells have been recognized as reliable alternative for the manufacturing of cost effecient photovoltaic solar cells of the future, due to its excellent absorber characteristics and simple, low-cost manufacturability. However, for the attainment of higher cell performances, additional studies are needed to increase cell efficiency through further development of better quality films and new fabrication processes. In substrate-structured CdTe thin film solar cells, the CdTe absorber is deposited directly onto the substrate or through a back contact layer. But the quality of deposited film is believed to depend on the type and smoothness of the substrate. In this work CdTe was deposited on different substrates by RF sputtering and the effects on the deposited films were studied in terms of their structural and morphological forms. The substrates used are pure molybdenum sheets (Mo), molybdenum-sputtered molybdenum (Mo/Mo), molybdenum-sputtered polyimide (PI/Mo) and molybdenum-sputtered glass (glass/Mo). The characterization tools used include XRD, SEM and AFM. The results show that all surfaces produced uniform, compact and pinhole free films; however, those on smoother surfaces produced larger as-deposited grain sizes of up to1.7μm as against 1.3 for rougher surfaces. Non-uniformities such as overgrowth and voids were observed, but only films on PI showed evidence of cracking and peel-offs.
Starting Page	1
Ending Page	4
File Size	1245718
Page Count	4
File Format	PDF
ISBN	9781467304634
e-ISBN	9789843342027
Language	English
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Publisher Date	2012-01-05
Publisher Place	Bangladesh
Access Restriction	Subscribed
Subject Keyword	Substrate Polyimide Films Photovoltaic cells Surface morphology Surface roughness Rough surfaces CdTe Molybdenum Substrates Surface treatment Thin film
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article

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