Thermionic emission theory and diffusion theory applied to CdTe PV devices

In this work, a comprehensive model that takes the phenomenon of carrier thermionic-emission within the frame work of a diffusion theory of current conducting into account in the type II hetero-junction CdTe solar cell is developed. According to this model, it is found that the total current flowing through the CdTe solar cell is limited by the thermionic process for very thin quasi-neutral regions and limited by the diffusion process for the reverse case. In future research of the CdTe solar cell, such an approach may enable the determination of the boundary conditions for all doping profiles and computation of the conversion efficiency, etc.