Effect of nanoscale tin-dioxide layers on the efficiency of CdS/CdTe-based film solar elements

Comparative investigations of the output parameters and optical diode characteristics of ITO/CdS/CdTe/Cu/Au and SnO$_2$: F/CdS/CdTe/Cu/Au film solar cells are carried out with the aim of optimizing the design of the front electrodes. It is established that the high voltage and large filling factor of the solar elements with SnO$_2$: F films are caused by a lower diode saturation current density and series resistance due to the stability of the crystal structure and electrical properties of these films against chloride treatment of the base layer during device fabrication. At the same time, solar elements with an ITO front electrode exhibit a higher short-circuit current density due to the larger average light transmittance of the ITO layers. The use of nanoscale SnO$_2$ layers in the ITO front contacts allows the efficiency of the CdS/CdTe-based solar elements to be enhanced to 11.4% on account of stabilization of the crystal structure and electrical properties of the ITO films and a possible reduction in the cadmium-sulphide-layer thickness without shunting the device structure.