Efficient ZnO/CdS/InP heterojunction solar cell

Abstract

Heterojunction solar cells consisting of an atom beam sputtered transparent conductive window layer/chemical bath deposited CdS buffer layer/p-type InP single crystal structure were studied. A total area cell efficiency up to 17.8% was obtained at AM 1.5 and was expected to reach as high as 23% based on this structure. The buffer layer 45 to 240 nm thick plays a key role to reduce sputter damages which would be formed at the surface of InP without this layer. It was found that the the choice of window materials has an important effect on the aging properties of the cell. When ZnO is used as a window material, the fill factor of the cell was particularly degraded by aging. Using an atom beam sputtered In/sub 2/O/sub 3/ window layer, the authors have been able to obtain more reliable solar cells.