Continuous Microreactor-Assisted Solution Deposition for Scalable Production of CdS Films

This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by The Electrochemical Society and can be found at: http://www.electrochem.org/.Solution deposition offers an attractive, low temperature option in the cost effective production of thin film solar cells. Continuous microreactor-assisted solution deposition (MASD) was used to produce nanocrystalline cadmium sulfide (CdS) films on fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) coated glass substrates with excellent uniformity. We report a novel liquid coating technique using a ceramic rod to efficiently and uniformly apply reactive solution to large substrates (152 mm x 152 mm). This technique represents an inexpensive approach to utilize the MASD on the substrate for uniform growth of CdS films. Nano-crystalline CdS films have been produced from liquid phase at ~90 degrees C, with average thicknesses of 70 nm to 230 nm and with a 5 to 12% thickness variation. The CdS films produced were characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and X-Ray diffraction to demonstrate their suitability to thin-film solar technology. (C) 2013 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved