The electron affinity difference in CdS/CdTe solar cells

Abstract

The electron affinity difference ΔB, = χi - χ2, in CdS/CdTe solar cells fabricated by four different processes has been measured from observations of the variations of open voltages with temperature. For CdS/CdTe cells, the values of A£c lie between 0-20 and 0-25 eV and are found to be independent of the process of cell fabrication. The use of CdZnTe in place of CdTe increases the value of AEC to 0-49 eV. The method used for the measurement of AEC is very simple. The values of the saturation current I0 for the different types of cells have been estimated from the slopes of qVoc versus kT plots and compared with those obtained from Inl versus F curves. The values of I0 found for each cell by the two methods are in substantial agreement. © Indian Academy of Sciences.