Pronounced Impact of p-Type Carriers and Reduction of Bandgap in Semiconducting ZnTe Thin Films by Cu Doping for Intermediate Buffer Layer in Heterojunction Solar Cells

Waqar Mahmood; Saif Ullah Awan; Amad Ud Din; Sajid Arif; Andrew Thomas; Anwar ul Haq; Nazar Abbas Shah

doi:10.20944/preprints201902.0108.v1

Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Version 1 : Received: 11 February 2019 / Approved: 13 February 2019 / Online: 13 February 2019 (10:24:01 CET)

Stabilized un-doped Zinc Telluride (ZnTe) thin films were grown on glass substrates under vacuum using closed space sublimation (CSS) technique. A dilute copper nitrate solution (0.1/100 ml) was prepared for copper doping known as ion exchange process in the matrix of ZnTe thin film. The reproducible polycrystalline cubic structure of undoped and Cu doped ZnTe thin films with preferred orientation (111) was confirmed by X-rays diffraction (XRD) technique. Lattice parameter analyses verified the expansion of unit cell volume after incorporation of Cu species into ZnTe thin films samples. The micrographs of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to measure the variation in crystal sizes of samples. The energy dispersive X-rays was used to validate the elemental composition of undoped and Cu-doped ZnTe thin films. The bandgap energy 2.24 eV of ZnTe thin film decreased after doping Cu to 2.20 eV may be due to the introduction of acceptors states near to valance band. Optical studies showed that refractive index was measured from 2.18 to 3.24 whereas thicknesses varied between 220 nm to 320 nm for un-doped and Cu doped ZnTe thin film respectively using Swanepoel model. The oxidation states of Zn⁺², Te⁺² and Cu⁺¹ through high resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses was observed. The resistivity of thin films changed from ~10⁷Ω-cm for undoped ZnTe to ~1 Ω-cm for Cu-doped ZnTe thin film, whereas p-type carrier concentration increased from to respectively. These results predicted that Cu-doped ZnTe thin film can be used as an ideal, efficient and stable intermediate layer between metallic and absorber back contact for the heterojunction thin film solar cell technology.

semiconductor thin films; CSS; ion-exchange; XRD; SEM; p-type carriers; band gap; solar cell

MATERIALS SCIENCE, Surfaces, Coatings & Films

Your full name

Your affiliation information (e.g., name of your university/institution/organization)

Not displayed online.

Your Email address (not made public)

Please leave your comment to this article below.

Mathematical equations can be typed in either LaTeX formats \\[ ... \\] or $$ ... $$, or MathML format <math> ... </math>. Try the LaTeX or MathML example.

Type equation:

Preview:

Copy equation into message below

Close menu

Please click a symbol to insert it into the message box below:

Please enter the link here:

Optionally, you can enter text that should appear as linked text:

Copy link into message below

Close menu

Please enter or paste the URL to the image here (please only use links to jpg/jpeg, png and gif images):

Copy image into message below

Close menu

Type author name or keywords to filter the list of references in this group (you can add a new citation under Bibliography):

No existing citations in Discussion Group

Wikify editor is a simple editor for wiki-style mark-up. It was written by MDPI for Sciforum in 2014. The rendering of the mark-up is based on Wiky.php with some tweaks. Rendering of mathematical equations is done with MathJax. Please send us a message for support or for reporting bugs.

Close menu

Please declare any conflicts of interest you may have with this paper, financial or otherwise.

I do not have a conflict of interest

I would like to declare a conflict of interest

Display my name on the website I want to get recognition for my comment on Publons

[what’s this?]. Link your accounts here

Captcha

Renew

I accept the following conditions:

Comments must follow the standards of professional discourse and should focus on the scientific content of the article. Insulting or offensive language, personal attacks and off-topic remarks will not be permitted. Comments must be written in English. Preprints reserves the right to remove comments without notice. Readers who post comments are obliged to declare any competing interests, financial or otherwise.

Notify me about updates to this article or when a peer-reviewed version is published.

Upload a Image(max file size 2MB)

Pronounced Impact of p-Type Carriers and Reduction of Bandgap in Semiconducting ZnTe Thin Films by Cu Doping for Intermediate Buffer Layer in Heterojunction Solar Cells

Abstract

Keywords

Subject

Comments (0)