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Study of interdiffusion reaction at the CdS/CdTe interface

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Abstract

To detect the relatively strong scattering signals of the Raman scattering and the x-ray diffraction (XRD) from CdS and those from the CdS/CdTe interface, an inverted CdTe solar cell structure was prepared and a 35-nm-thick CdS film was deposited on the surface of a CdTe solar cell structure. The Raman and high-resolution XRD scattering spectra allowed us to qualitatively study the interdiffusion and its related reactions at the CdS/CdTe interface. Interdiffusion began to occur at a relatively low temperature of about 350 °C, which coincided with the CdS phase transformation from cubic to hexagonal phase. Substantial interdiffusion of S and Te occurred after heat treatment at a temperature of 550 °C, resulting in formation of S-rich and Te-rich CdSxTe1−x alloy at the CdS/CdTe interface, with S and Te atomic concentration of ∼9% and 11% diffused into the CdTe and the CdS films, respectively.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 60876047 and 60976054) and the Solar Energy Action Project of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. 173101240).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, People’s Republic of China

    Deliang Wang, Zerong Hou & Zhizhong Bai

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  1. Deliang Wang
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  2. Zerong Hou
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Correspondence to Deliang Wang.

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Wang, D., Hou, Z. & Bai, Z. Study of interdiffusion reaction at the CdS/CdTe interface. Journal of Materials Research 26, 697–705 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2010.90

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