Degradation sources of CdTe thin film PV: CdCl2 residue and shunting pinholes

The present work considers two observable phenomena through the experimental fabrication and electrical characterization of the rf-sputtered CdS/CdTe thin film solar cells that extremely reduce the overall conversion efficiency of the device: CdCl2 residue on the surface of the semiconductor and shunting pinholes. The former happens through nonuniform treatment of the As-deposited solar cells before annealing at high temperature and the latter occurs by shunting pinholes when the cell surface is shunted by defects, wire-like pathways or scratches on the metallic back contact caused from the external contacts. Such physical problems may be quite common in the experimental activities and reduce the performance down to 4–5 % which leads to dismantle the device despite its precise fabrication. We present our electrical characterization on the samples that received wet CdCl2 surface treatment (uniform or nonuniform) and are damaged by the pinholes.