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The origins of void formation in sputtered CdSe

conference contribution
posted on 2021-10-18, 08:54 authored by Rachael Greenhalgh, Pete Hatton, Vlad KornienkoVlad Kornienko, Ali AbbasAli Abbas, Pooja GoddardPooja Goddard, Roger Smith, Jake BowersJake Bowers, Michael WallsMichael Walls
The introduction of selenium to the front of thin film CdTe photovoltaic devices has led to a sharp increase in conversion efficiency. One way to introduce the selenium is to first deposit a layer of CdSe on to the buffer layer before depositing a CdTe layer at the back. The two layers are then inter-diffused during the cadmium chloride activation. Magnetron sputtering is an attractive deposition method to deposit the CdSe, but previous studies have revealed the presence of deleterious voids in the finished sputtered CdSe/CdTe devices. In this paper, we show that the voids are caused by the accumulation of argon into bubbles formed during activation with experimental and theoretical evidence. The bubbles are similar to those previously observed in sputtered CdTe. These bubbles can also develop into blisters causing significant exfoliation of the film surface.

Funding

EP/W00092X/1

EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in New and Sustainable PV

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

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History

School

  • Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering

Research Unit

  • Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technology (CREST)

Published in

2021 IEEE 48th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC)

Pages

886 - 889

Source

2021 IEEE 48th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC)

Publisher

IEEE

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Rights holder

© IEEE

Publisher statement

Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.

Publication date

2021-08-26

Copyright date

2021

ISBN

9781665419222

ISSN

0160-8371

Language

  • en

Location

Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA

Event dates

20th June 2021 - 25th June 2021

Depositor

Prof Michael Walls. Deposit date: 14 October 2021

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