Strengths and advantages of electrodeposition as a semiconductor growth technique for applications in macroelectronic devices

This paper reviews the strengths and advantages of electrodeposition as a low-cost and large-area semiconductor growth technique for applications in macroelectronic devices such as solar panels and large-area display devices. To highlight its strengths, experimental evidence obtained from X-ray diffracton and photoluminescence is presented. It has been shown that when materials are grown with the right conditions, electrodeposition is capable of producing high-quality materials for electronic device applications. The paper also summarizes the new science and new solar cell designs emanating from the research on electrodeposited electronic materials and solar cell devices. The new designs have been tested with well-researched III-V materials, GaAs and AlxGa((1-x))As, and the device performances show a drastic improvement in device parameters (V-oc approximate to 1110 mV and FF approximate to 0.83). These new designs have also been tested using electrodeposited CuInGaSe2 materials, with encouraging preliminary results which are also presented and discussed. (c) 2005 The Electrochemical Society.