Investigation of the structural properties of annealed CdIn2Te4/CdS thin film solar cells produced by the electron-beam evaporation (e-beam) technique

Thin film CdIn₂Te₄/CdS solar cells were deposited onto the ITO-coated glass substrate by electron beam evaporation (e-beam) technique, and the the effect of annealing on their structural properties is studied. The annealing was performed under nitrogen atmosphere for 1 h. The manufactured solar cells were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDAX) analysis. Crystallite size (D), inter-planer distance (d) and lattice constant (a) values were calculated for the thin film solar cell from XRD data. Annealed samples display well defined XRD patterns with three diffraction peaks. We observed increased peak intensity in the annealed films. EDAX analysis showed that only CdIn₂Te₄ is present in absorber layer and CdS is found in the window layer, but no impurity atoms are present the structure. It is observed that surface roughness of the annealed films incresed, according to SEM images. The I–V characteristics show that the current is increased for annealed thin films solar cells.