Electrical Properties of CdTe/CdS Solar Cells Investigated with Conductive Atomic Force Microscopy

We report on the application of conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM) for studying the electrical properties of CdTe/CdS solar cells, and discuss the advantages and limitations of this technique. C-AFM is a new technique that uses the tip of an AFM to apply a potential between the tip and the sample, resulting in high spatial-resolution current images, as well as current versus voltage curves. The analyses were made before and after the standard vapor CdCl₂ treatment, as well as two etching processes, using solutions of bromine/methanol and nitric-phosphoric acids. The current images from the untreated and CdCl₂-treated samples showed grains with different contrasts, due to differences in electrical conductivity or a nonuniform surface. The bromine/methanol etch resulted in more conductive grain boundaries as compared to intragrain material, while the nitric/phosphoric etch increased the conductivity of the whole film close to the surface and resulted in films with significant photocurrent.