Preparation of II–VI and IV–VI semiconductor films for solar cells by the isovalent substitution technique with a CBD-made substrate

Abstract

II–VI and IV–VI semiconductor films for solar cell applications, namely, CdTe, CdS, CdSe, PbS, PbSe and PbTe, can be prepared in a two-stage deposition process. In this work we illustrate the two-stage process to obtain PbTe and CdSe films from precursor oxide or hydroxide films deposited by chemical bath deposition (CBD). At the first stage, plumbonacrite Pb₁₀(CO₃)₆O(OH)₆ or cadmium oxide/hydroxide CdO₂/Cd(O₂)_0.88(OH)_0.24 films were deposited onto a glass substrate by CBD, using an ammonia-free low-temperature process in an alkaline aqueous solution with corresponding ion sources. Then, at the second stage, the obtained film was placed in a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) Hot Wall reactor with gas transportation, where it acted as a substrate in the reaction of isovalent substitution of Te or Se for the nonmetallic film component, thus forming PbTe and CdSe films. A nitrogen flux of 0.25 L/min was used as the transporting gas. The source temperature was adjusted between boiling (Tb) and melting point (Tm) to control the flux gas of the source. The substrate temperature was adjusted to improve film quality. Structural and optical investigation of the films proved their high quality, which determines the possibility of using them as solar cell elements, in particular, in multijunction cells.