3D Distributions of Chlorine and Sulphur Impurities in a Thin-Film Cadmium Telluride Solar Cell

A cadmium chloride activation treatment is essential for the production of high efficiency cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cells. However, the effects of the treatment on the distributions of chlorine and sulphur within the device are not fully understood. Here, the detailed locations of chlorine and sulphur in a treated CdTe cell are determined in three dimensions by high resolution dynamic SIMS measurements. Chlorine is found to be present in grain boundaries, grain interiors, extended defects within the grain interiors, at the front interface, and in the cadmium sulphide layer. In each of these regions, the chlorine is likely to have significant effects on local electronic properties of the material, and hence overall device performance. Sulphur is found to have a U-shaped diffusion profile within CdTe grains, indicating a mixed grain boundary and lattice diffusion regime.