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. 2021 May 12;14(4):482–490. doi: 10.1007/s12200-021-1217-1

Rapid thermal evaporation for cadmium selenide thin-film solar cells

Kanghua Li 1,#, Xuetian Lin 1,2,#, Boxiang Song 1, Rokas Kondrotas 3, Chong Wang 1, Yue Lu 1,2, Xuke Yang 1, Chao Chen 1,✉, Jiang Tang 1,2
PMCID: PMC9743910  PMID: 36637762

Abstract

Cadmium selenide (CdSe) belongs to the binary II-VI group semiconductor with a direct bandgap of ∼1.7 eV. The suitable bandgap, high stability, and low manufacturing cost make CdSe an extraordinary candidate as the top cell material in silicon-based tandem solar cells. However, only a few studies have focused on CdSe thin-film solar cells in the past decades. With the advantages of a high deposition rate (∼2 °m/min) and high uniformity, rapid thermal evaporation (RTE) was used to maximize the use efficiency of CdSe source material. A stable and pure hexagonal phase CdSe thin film with a large grain size was achieved. The CdSe film demonstrated a 1.72 eV bandgap, narrow photoluminescence peak, and fast photoresponse. With the optimal device structure and film thickness, we finally achieved a preliminary efficiency of 1.88% for CdSe thin-film solar cells, suggesting the applicability of CdSe thin-film solar cells.

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Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at 10.1007/s12200-021-1217-1 and is accessible for authorized users.

Keywords: cadmium selenide (CdSe), rapid thermal evaporation (RTE), solar cells, thin film

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61725401, 61904058, and 62050039), the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2016YFA0204000), the Innovation Fund of WNLO, National Postdoctoral Program for Innovative Talent (No. BX20190127), the Graduates’ Innovation Fund of Huazhong University of Science and Technology (No. 2020yjsCXCY003), and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Project (Nos. 2019M662623 and 2020M680101). The authors thank the Analytical and Testing Center of HUST and the facility support of the Center for Nanoscale Characterization and Devices (CNCD), WNLO-HUST.

Supporting Information

12200_2021_1217_MOESM1_ESM.pdf (339.7KB, pdf)

Rapid thermal evaporation for cadmium selenide thin-film solar cells

Footnotes

Kanghua Li received his Bachelor’s degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China in 2015. Then he studied in Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology as a doctoral candidate and received his Ph.D. degree in 2020. Currently, he is a post-doctor in Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China. His research interests are thin-film solar cells and photodetectors.

Xuetian Lin is a candidate for a Master’s degree at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST, China) and Paris Sciences & Lettres University (France). She majors in New Energy Science and Technology in China-EU Institute for Clean and Renewable Energy in HUST. She also majors in Clean and Renewable Energy in the MINES ParisTech of PSL University (France). She mainly works on photovoltaic materials.

Boxiang Song received his B.S. degree (2012) from Nanjing University (China), M.S. degree (2014) from University of Pennsylvania (USA), and Ph.D. degree (2019) from University of Southern California (USA) under the supervision of Prof. Wei Wu. After one-year of postdoctoral research at University of Southern California, he joined Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, as a full-time professor. His research interests include nanofabrication, plasmonics, and metamaterials. Specifically, he pioneered the gap plasmonic nanostructure with sub-nanometer accuracy in large periodic arrays for precise chemical detection. He has published more than 20 papers, including Science Robotics, ACS Nano, and Small. He is a member of the IEEE Nanotechnology Council, and the invited reviewer for Nanophotonics, Nanoscale, and Applied Physics A.

Rokas Kondrotas earned his Ph.D. degree in Center for Physical Sciences and Technology jointly with Vilnius University, Lithuania in 2015. Then he worked as a post-doctor in Catalonia Institute for Energy Research, Spain for one year. Afterward, he joined Prof. Jiang Tang’s group in Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China. After his second post-doc, Rokas returned to Center for Physical Science and Technology where now he is employed as a senior researcher. His research is focused on the fabrication and study of thin-film solar cells, including Cu2ZnSnSe4, Cu(In,Ga)Se2, and Sb2Se3.

Chong Wang received his Bachelor’s degree (2015) and Ph.D. degree (2020) in Optical Engineering from Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China. Now his research interests are novel semiconductor optoelectronic materials and devices.

Yue Lu received his Bachelor’s degree from China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), China in 2019. He is currently pursuing his M.S. degree from both Huazhong University of Science and Technology (China) and the MINES ParisTech of PSL University (France). He also a master student, major in Clean and Renewable Energy in the MINES ParisTech of PSL University (France). His current research interests focus on thin-film solar cells and photodetectors.

Xuke Yang started his studies in School of Optics and Electronic Information, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China in 2017, and he will receive a bachelor’s degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China in 2021. Since August 2020, he has been conducting research and studies at Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China. His research interests are thin solar cells and photodetectors.

Chao Chen received his B.S. degree in School of Physics at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China in 2014. From 2014/09 to 2019/02, he studied in Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics at HUST as a doctoral candidate and received his Ph.D. degree in 2019. From 2019/02 to 2021/02, he worked in Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics as a post-doctor. Recently, he joined School of Optical and Electronic Information, HUST as an associate professor. His research interests are thin-film solar cells and photodetectors.

Jiang Tang is a professor at Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China. He obtained his Ph.D. degree from University of Toronto, Canada in 2010. His research interest is optoelectronic devices including X-ray and infrared detectors, thin-film solar cells, and light-emitting diodes. He has published > 150 papers, filed > 30 patents.

These authors contributed equally.

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