• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.196-199
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• 2012

CdS thin film was prepared on glass substrate by chemical bath deposition in an alkaline solution. The optical properties of CdS thin film were investigated using spectroscopic ellipsometry. The real (${\varepsilon}_1$) and imaginary (${\varepsilon}_2$) parts of the complex dielectric function ${\varepsilon}(E)={\varepsilon}_1(E)+i{\varepsilon}_2(E)$, the refractive index n(E), and the extinction coefficient k(E) of CdS thin film were obtained from spectroscopic ellipsometry. The normal-incidence reflectivity R(E) and absorption coefficient ${\alpha}(E)$ of CdS thin film were obtained using the refractive index and extinction coefficient. The critical points $E_0$ and $E_1$ of CdS thin film were shown in spectra of the dielectric function and optical constants of refractive index, extinction coefficient, normal-incidence reflectivity, and absorption coefficient. The dispersion of refractive index was analyzed by the Wemple-DiDomenico single-oscillator model.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.164-168
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• 2011

Nanocrystalline cadmium sulphide (CdS) thin films were prepared using chemical bath deposition (CBD), and the structural, optical and photoconductive properties were investigated. The crystal structure of CdS thin film was studied by X-ray diffraction. The crystallite size, dislocation density and lattice constant of CBD CdS thin films were investigated. The dislocation density of CdS thin films initially decreases with increasing film thickness, and it is nearly constant over the thickness of 2,500 ${\AA}$. The dislocation density decreases with increasing the crystallite size. The Urbach energies of CdS thin films are obtained by fitting the optical absorption coefficient. The optical band gap of CdS thin films increases and finally saturates with increasing the lattice constant. The Urbach energy and optical band gap of the 2,900 A-thick CdS thin film prepared for 60 minutes are 0.24 eV and 2.83 eV, respectively. The activation energies of the 2,900 ${\AA}$-thick CdS thin film at low and high temperature regions were 14 meV and 31 meV, respectively. It is considered that these activation energies correspond to donor levels associated with shallow traps or surface states of CdS thin film. Also, the value of ${\gamma}$ was obtained from the light transfer characteristic of CdS thin film. The value of ${\gamma}$ for the 2,900 A-thick CdS thin film was 1 at 10 V, and it saturates with increasing the applied voltage.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.33-37
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• 2019

In this paper, we compared the performance of $Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)_2$ (CIGSSe) thin film solar cell with CdS buffer layer deposited by irradiating 365 nm UV light with 8 W power in Chemcial Bath Deposition (CBD) process. The effects of UV light irradiation on the thin film deposition mechanism during CBD-CdS thin film deposition were investigated through chemical and electro-optical studies. If the UV light is irradiated during the solution process, the hydrolysis of Thiourea is promoted even during the same time, thereby inhibiting the formation of the intermediate products developed in the reaction pathway and decreasing the pH of the solution. As a result, it is suggested that the efficiency of the CdS/CIGSSe solar cell is increased because the ratio of the S element in the CdS thin film increases and the proportion of the O element decreases. This is a very simple and effective approach to control the S/O ratio of the CdS thin film by the CBD process without artificially controlling the process temperature, solution pH or concentration.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.21 no.9
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• pp.497-501
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• 2011

The CdS thin film used as a window layer in the CdTe thin film solar cell transports photo-generated electrons to the front contact and forms a p-n junction with the CdTe layer. This is why the electrical, optical, and surface properties of the CdS thin film influence the efficiency of the CdTe thin film solar cell. When CdTe thin film solar cells are fabricated, a heat treatment is done to improve the qualities of the CdS thin films. Of the many types of heat treatments, the $CdCl_2$ heat treatment is most widely used because the grain size in CdS thin films increases and interdiffusion between the CdS and the CdTe layer is prevented by the heat treatment. To investigate the changes in the electrical, optical, and surface properties and the crystallinity of the CdS thin films due to heat treatment, CdS thin films were deposited on FTO/glass substrates by the rf magnetron sputtering technique, and then a $CdCl_2$ heat treatment was carried out. After the $CdCl_2$ heat treatment, the clustershaped grains in the CdS thin film increased in size and their boundaries became faint. XRD results show that the crystallinity improved and the crystalline size increased from 15 to 42 nm. The resistivity of the CdS single layer decreased from 3.87 to 0.26 ${\Omega}cm$, and the transmittance in the visible region increased from 64% to 74%.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.30-35
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• 2008

In this paper, CdS/Cd(Cu)S thin films and diodes were manufactured via a chemical bath deposition (CBD) process, and the effects of $NH_4Cl$ and TEA(triethylamine) on the properties of the films were examined. The addition of $NH_4Cl$ significantly increased the thickness of the CdS and Cd(Cu)S films, however, the addition of TEA decreased the thickness in both cases slightly. The addition of $NH_4Cl$ along with TEA increased the film thickness more effectively compared to the addition of only $NH_4Cl$. The thickness of the CdS film prepared from an aqueous solution of 0.007 M $CdSO_4$, 1.3 M $NH_4OH$, 0.03 M $SC(NH_2)_2$, 0.0001 M TEA and 0.03 M $NH_4Cl$ was 310 nm. Dark resistivity of the CdS film was $1.2{\times}10^3\;{\Omega}cm$ and the photo resistivity with $500\;W/cm^2$ irradiation of white light was $20{\Omega}cm$. The Cd(Cu)S/CdS thin film diodes prepared by CBD showed good rectifying characteristics.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.253-254
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• 2006

We have manufactured CdS and Cd(Cu)S thin films by chemical bath deposition(CBD) process, and examined the effects of $NH_4Cl$ and TEA. The addition of $NH_4Cl$ remarkably enhanced the film thickness of CdS, however, TEA slightly decreased the film thickness. The thickness of CdS film prepared from the aqueous solution of 0.003 M $CdSO_4$ 0.00008 M $CuSO_4$, 1.3M NH3, 0.03 M $SC(NH_2)_2$ and 0.0009 M $NH_4Cl$ was 210 nm and resistivity of that was $1.2{\times}10^3{\Omega}cm$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2004.07b
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• pp.857-860
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• 2004

Cubic CdS thin film with the strongest XRD peak (111) at diffraction angle $(\theta)$ of 26.5 was well made at substrate temperature of $150^{\circ}C$. At that time, lattice constant a of the thin film was $5.79{\AA}$, grain size of that was more over ${\mu}m$ and it's resistivity was over $10^3{\Omega}cm$. And the peak of diffraction intensityat miller index (111) of CdS:In thin film with dopant In of 1 atom% was shown higher about 20 % than undoped CdS thin film. Also, CdS:In thin film had in part hexagonal structure among cubic structure as secondary phase. Lattice constant of a and grain size of secondary phase of the film with dopant In of 1 atom% was $5.81{\AA}$ and around $1{\mu}m$ respectively The lowest resistivity of $5.1{\times}10^{-3}{\Omega}cm$ was appeared on dopant In of 1.5 atom%. Optical band gap of undoped CdS thin film was 2.43 eV and CdS:In thin film with dopant In of 0.5 atom% had the largest band gap 2.49 eV.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.318.2-318.2
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• 2014

The high contact resistance is still one of the major issues to be resolved in CdS/CdTe thin film solar cells. CdTe/Metal Schottky contact induced a high contact resistance in CdS/CdTe solar cells. It has been reported that the work function of CdTe thin film is more than 5.7 eV. There has not been a suitable back contact metal, because CdTe thin film has a high work function. In a few decades, some buffer layer was reported to improve a back contact problem. Buffer layers which are Te, $Sb_2Te_3$, $Cu_2Te$, ZnTe:Cu and so on was inserted between CdTe and metal electrode. A formed buffer layers made a tunnel junction. Hole carriers which was excited in CdTe film by light absorption was transported from CdTe to back metal electrode. In this report, we reported the variation of solar cell performance with different buffer layer at the back contact of CdTe thin film solar cell.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.106.1-106.1
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• 2011

The Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) thin film solar cells have been achieved until almost 20% efficiency by NREL. These solar cells include chemically deposited CdS as buffer layer between CIGS absorber layer and ZnO window layer. Although CIGS solar cells with CdS buffer layer show excellent performance, the short wavelength response of CIGS solar cell is limited by narrow CdS band gap of about 2.42 eV. Taking into consideration the environmental aspect, the toxic Cd element should be replaced by a different material. Among Cd-free candidate materials, the CIGS thin film solar cells with ZnS buffer layer seem to be promising with 17.2%(module by showa shell K.K.), 18.6%(small area by NREL). However, ZnS/CIGS solar cells still show lower performance than CdS/CIGS solar cells. There are several reported reasons to reduce the efficiency of ZnS/CIGS solar cells. Nakada reported ZnS thin film had many defects such as stacking faults, pin-holes, so that crytallinity of ZnS thin film is poor, compared to CdS thin film. Additionally, it was known that the hetero-interface between ZnS and CIGS layer made unfavorable band alignment. The unfavorable band alignment hinders electron transport at the heteo-interface. In this study, we focused on growing defect-free ZnS thin film and for favorable band alignment of ZnS/CIGS, bandgap of ZnS and CIGS, valece band structure of ZnS/CIGS were modified. Finally, we verified the photovoltaic properties of ZnS/CIGS solar cells.

• 한국태양에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2012.03a
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• pp.394-396
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• 2012

Chemical bath deposition (CBD) process conditions for depositing CdS buffer layers was studied for high efficiencies of CIGS thin film solar cells. Growth rate of CdS thin films has an effect on surface morphology and quality of thin films. By the change of growth rate, CdS buffer layers showed a large difference in surface morphology and this difference was closely related with the photovoltaic properties of CIGS solar cells.