Methods of growing CdTe-based materials at high rates

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10134590-B2
Application number	US-201715470195-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 27, 2017
Priority date	Mar 27, 2017
Publication date	Nov 20, 2018
Grant date	Nov 20, 2018

Abstract

Systems and methods for growing high-quality CdTe-based materials at high growth rates are provided. According to an aspect of the invention, a method includes depositing a first CdTe-based layer on a CdTe-based template at a rate of greater than 1 μm/min. Each of the first CdTe-based layer and the CdTe-based template has a single-crystal structure and/or a large-grain polycrystalline structure. The depositing is performed by physical vapor deposition.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
depositing a first CdTe-based layer on a CdTe-based template at a rate of between 1 μm/min to 8 μm/min, wherein:
each of the first CdTe-based layer and the CdTe-based template has at least one of a single-crystal structure or a large-grain polycrystalline structure, and
the depositing is performed by physical vapor deposition while maintaining a temperature of a substrate on which the first CdTe-based layer is deposited between 400° C. and 650° C. during the depositing.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the physical vapor deposition comprises close-spaced sublimation (CSS) or vapor transport deposition (VTD).

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first CdTe-based layer comprises CdTe or CdZnTe.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the CdTe-based template comprises CdTe, CdZnTe, CdMgTe, CdMnTe, HgCdTe, or an alloy thereof.

5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising maintaining a temperature of a source of the first CdTe-based layer between 500° C. and 700° C. during the depositing.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the CdTe-based template is deposited by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), Bridgman growth, or a traveling heater method (THM).

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the CdTe-based template is deposited on a ZnTe layer, which is deposited on a Si substrate.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the CdTe-based template has a thickness between 10 nm and 1 mm.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein an average grain size of the first CdTe-based layer is greater than twice a thickness of the first CdTe-based layer.

10. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising doping the first CdTe-based layer.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the first CdTe-based layer is doped with As or P.

12. The method according to claim 10 , further comprising annealing the first CdTe-based layer at a temperature between 400° C. and 700° C. for a duration between 30 seconds and 30 minutes.

Assignees

• Alliance Sustainable Energy

Inventors

• Burst James M
• Albin David S
• Colegrove Eric
• Reese Matthew O
• Moutinho Helio R
• Metzger Wyatt K
• Duenow Joel N

Classifications

• H10P14/3436

  being chalcogenide semiconductor materials not being oxides, e.g. ternary compounds · CPC title

• H10P14/3446

  Transition metal elements; Rare earth elements · CPC title

• H10P14/3438

  Doping during depositing · CPC title

• H10P14/3248

  consisting of two layers · CPC title

• H10P14/3232

  Tellurides · CPC title