Electrochemical deposition of CdTe semiconductor thin films for solar cell application using two-electrode and three-electrode configurations: a comparative study

Thin films of CdTe semiconductor were electrochemically deposited using two-electrode and three-electrode configurations in potentiostatic mode for comparison. Cadmium sulphate and tellurium dioxide were used as cadmium and tellurium sources respectively. The layers obtained using both configurations exhibit similar structural, optical and electrical properties with no specific dependence on any particular electrode configuration used. These results indicate that electrochemical deposition (electrodeposition) of CdTe, and semiconductors in general, can equally be carried out using two-electrode system as well as the conventional three-electrode system without compromising the essential qualities of the materials produced. The results also highlight the advantages of the two-electrode configuration in process simplification, cost reduction and removal of a possible impurity source in the growth system especially as the reference electrode ages. Keywords: Electrochemical deposition; two-electrode system; three-electrode system; CdTe; thin-films; solar cells.