Thin films of cadmium telluride produced using stacked elemental layer (SEL) processing in a variety of annealing environments (solar cells)

The stacked elemental layer (SEL) technique has been used to synthesize thin films of CdTe for solar cell applications. In this work, Cd and Te layers were deposited using thermal evaporation and the layers annealed in nitrogen, vacuum, or air at temperatures in the range 350 degrees C-600 degrees C for 15 min. Transmittance and reflectance data, X-ray diffraction data, and scanning electron microscopy observations of the surface topology are given. Post-synthesis annealing of the layers using CuCl/sub 2//CdCl/sub 2//methanol was also investigated. This treatment was found to substantially increase the grain size.<
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