Electrical engineering

Fabrication

Pathology

Nanotechnology

Cadmium telluride photovoltaics

Engineering physics

Engineering

Voltage

Thin film

Materials science

Alternative medicine

Computer science

Photovoltaic system

Solar cell

Polymer solar cell

Optoelectronics

Open-circuit voltage

Quantum dot solar cell

Short circuit

Medicine

Energies

CdTe is a very robust and chemically stable material and for this reason its related solar cell thin film photovoltaic technology is now the only thin film technology in the first 10 top producers in the world. CdTe has an optimum band gap for the Schockley-Queisser limit and could deliver very high efficiencies as single junction device of more than 32%, with an open circuit voltage of 1 V and a short circuit current density exceeding 30 mA/cm2. CdTe solar cells were introduced at the beginning of the 70s and they have been studied and implemented particularly in the last 30 years. The strong improvement in efficiency in the last 5 years was obtained by a new redesign of the CdTe solar cell device reaching a single solar cell efficiency of 22.1% and a module efficiency of 19%. In this paper we describe the fabrication process following the history of the solar cell as it was developed in the early years up to the latest development and changes. Moreover the paper also presents future possible alternative absorbers and discusses the only apparently controversial environmental impacts of this fantastic technology.

CdTe-Based Thin Film Solar Cells: Past, Present and Future