Chemical analysis of Cd12xZnxS/CdTe solar cells by plasma profiling TOFMS

Thin film CdTe photovoltaic (PV) devices and reference layers obtained by the atmospheric pressure metalorganic vapour deposition (AP-MOCVD) method have been studied for their chemical structure using plasma profiling time-of-flight-mass spectroscopy (PP-TOFMS, also called glow discharge TOFMS). Different levels of arsenic (As) dopant in CdTe films were measured by PP-TOFMS and compared to results obtained from a more conventional depth profiling method (secondary ion mass spectrometry or SIMS). This comparison showed that PPTOFMS has the sufficient sensitivity towards detection of the As dopant in CdTe and hence is suited as a rapid, low vacuum tool in controlling the large scale production of CdTe PV materials