Optical and Electrical Characterization of Cd:JxNi_:xS and Sb2S3 Thin FiIm s for Photov0Itaic Application s

Abstract

The limited supply of fossil fuels has motivated the search for alternative sources of energy. Much Interest now focuses 011 the vast amount of radiation from the sun and thus devices that COnveJ1 light energy into electrical energy are becoming increasingly' desirable. Solar cells are devices that convert light energy into useful electrical energy and are fabricated using aileast the active layer being able to absorb energy from the suns radiation. They are formed by heterojunctions and hornojunctions. Hererojunction and hornojunction solar cells grown on glass substrates require an absorber layer and a wide band-gap window layer of optimum optoelectronic properties W form the P-II junction and then transparent conducting ox-ides (TCO) and specific metal contacts (lit used !"c'r L11.,)Ih front and bad: electrical contacts. Efficiencies of these solar cells depend on various dep()~itiol1 methods and conditions because these conditions control the optoelectronic properties of tile lavers ln this research, Cadmium Nickel Sulphide (CdNiS) thin films will be prepared, optimized by chemical bath deposuion (CBD) technique on glass substrates and used as a window material Antimony Sulphide (SbZS3 ) absorber layer will also be deposited using CBD technique and optimized from aqueous solutions on glass substrates. Optical properties like reflectance and transmittance data in the range from 300 nm- J 100 11m will be measured by UV-V1S -NlR Spectrophotometer type DUV 3700 and used to calculate other optical and solid state properties like band gap (Eg), refractive index (n), extinction coefficient (k) and absorbance (0.) which will be analyzed to determine how optical conductance. transminance. absorbance \3ry with the conditions of deposition using the Scout Software. Electrical resistivity \,ill be determined using the Four Point Probe. Alpha-step 500 surface profi lorneter (Tencer) will be used to determine film thickness Solar cell properties like the current versus voltage characteristics (I-V) will be studied using Solar Cell Simulator. Conditions that give CdxNi1_XS and SbZS3 optimum optical and electrical properties will then be selected and used to fabricate a CdxNi1-XS /Sb z53 photovo haic cell. The phorov o ltaic cell's performance characteristics like short circuit current (lse), open circuit voltage (Voe), fill factor (FF) and conversion efficiency (11) will be calculated and discussed. Energy Dispersive X-rays (EDX) will be used to determine the elemental composition and chemical state ofCdXNij_XS and Sbz53 thin films.