Electrical properties of electrodeposited CdTe photovoltaic devices on metallic substrates: study using small area Au–CdTe contacts

Charge transport properties of the Schottky diodes fabricated on n-CdTe layers electrodeposited on stainless steel foil are investigated. The small area Au–CdTe contacts facilitated the investigation of the role of shunt and series resistances on the I–V characteristics of the thin-film CdTe device. The charge transport mechanism in these diodes is found to be generation–recombination in the depletion layer and over-barrier electron flow at low and higher bias voltages, respectively. By using this model a quantitative theoretical analysis of the current–voltage characteristics of the diodes is possible.