Addition of ZnTe in ITO/CdS/CdTe, ITO/CdS/Si/CdTe, and ITO/CdS/SiGe/CdTe thin films using WxAMPS and Pulsed Laser Deposition

Semiconductor materials consisting of a wide band gap such as cadmium sulfide (CdS) show promising potential applications in the area of electronics, specifically photovoltaics. Extensive research has been carried out to maximize its efficiency through the embedding of different nanoparticles to CdS/CdTe thin films such as Ag, Au, and Si.  However, recombination loss at the back contact of CdS/CdTe solar cells may occur due to the cell’s high absorption property. Thus, Zinc Telluride (ZnTe) having a wide band gap of 2.26 eV would impede the loss at the back contact, potentially resulting to a higher energy conversion. In this research, the addition of ZnTe layer, impeding the loss at the back contact will be observed. The addition of ZnTe in ITO/CdS/CdTe, ITO/CdS/Si/CdTe, and ITO/CdS/SiGe/CdTe thin films will be implemented both using Widget Provided Analysis of Microelectronic and Photonic Structure (WxAMPS) Simulation and Pulsed Laser Deposition experimentally. In the simulations, the thickness range for ZnTe is kept between 0.1 and 0.35 micrometers and the PLD conditions of the experimental solar cells are optimized according to the photovoltaic conversion parameters from the simulation.