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Influential role of CdS film thickness in improving CdS/CdTe junction performance for solar cells: structural, optical, and electrical characterizations

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Abstract

CdS films of different thicknesses (d ≈ 100–300 nm) are deposited on the glass substrate by thermal evaporation technique. The structure of these films had been studied by Rietveld refinement and atomic pressure microscope. The films of CdS/glass show a wurtzite type structure. XRD calculations show that the lattice parameters a and c have changed, the microstrain decreases, and the crystallite size increases. The optical constants refractive index n, and extinction coefficient, k consequently band gap are estimated from SE via construction an optical model. The refractive index n of the CdS/glass films received from SE model increases with growing of CdS layer thickness that is credited to the rise of the size of the crystal. It was also found that when the thickness of the CdS layer increases, the general behavior of the extinction coefficient k of the CdS/glass film increases. In addition, it is found that the direct optical transition with energy band gap is compact from 2.45 (d = 100 nm) eV to 2.25 eV (d = 300 nm). The Ni/n-CdSe/p-CdTe/Pt heterojunction has been assembled. The dark (cutting-edge-voltage) characteristics of fabricated heterojunctions had been suggested at the different thicknesses of CdS, as well as for voltages ranging from − 2 to 2 V. Based on the dependence of the forward and reverse current at the voltage, the powerful and essential parameters related to the fabricated diode had been determined.

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Acknowledgements

This work was produced with the financial support of the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology of Egypt; ScienceUP/GradeUp initiative: Grant Agreement No (6505). Its contents are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University, Assiut, 71542, Egypt

    Essam R. Shaaban

  2. Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Assiut University, Assiut, 71516, Egypt

    Mohamed A. Osman & Ali A. Osman

  3. Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, The New Valley University, El-Kharja, 72511, Egypt

    Marwa M. Sayed

  4. Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Assiut University, Assiut, 71516, Egypt

    Kamal I. Aly

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  1. Essam R. Shaaban
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  2. Mohamed A. Osman
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  5. Kamal I. Aly
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Contributions

ERS: Conceptualization, investigation, calculations, writing—original draft. MAO: Investigation and contribution to writing. AAO: investigation and editing. MMS: Investigation and taking measurements. KIA: Supervising and writing—reviewing and editing.

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Correspondence to Essam R. Shaaban or Kamal I. Aly.

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Shaaban, E.R., Osman, M.A., Osman, A.A. et al. Influential role of CdS film thickness in improving CdS/CdTe junction performance for solar cells: structural, optical, and electrical characterizations. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 33, 4051–4063 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-021-07598-4

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