Cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cells are deposited in current production using evaporation-based tech- niques. Fabricating CdTe solar cells using magnetron sputtering would have the advantage of being more cost-efficient. Here, we show that such deposition results in the incorporation of the magnetron working gas Ar, within the films. Post deposition processing with CdCl2 improves cell efficiency and during which stacking faults are removed. The Ar then accumulates into clusters leading to the creation of voids and blisters on the surface. Using molecular dynamics, the penetration threshold energies are determined for both Ar and Xe, with CdTe in both zinc-blende and wurtzite phases. These calculations show that more Ar than Xe can penetrate into the growing film with most penetration across the (111) surface. The mechanisms and energy barriers for interstitial Ar and Xe diffusion in zinc-blende are determined. Barriers are reduced near existing clusters, increasing the probability of capture-based cluster growth. Barriers in wurtzite are higher with non-Arrhenius behaviour observed. This provides an explanation for the increase in the size of voids observed after stacking fault removal. Blister exfoliation was also modelled, showing the formation of shallow craters with a raised rim.

中文翻译：

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磁控溅射薄膜 CdTe 太阳能电池中惰性气泡的形成

目前的生产中，碲化镉 (CdTe) 太阳能电池是使用基于蒸发的技术沉积的。使用磁控溅射制造 CdTe 太阳能电池将具有更具成本效益的优势。在这里，我们表明这种沉积导致磁控管工作气体 Ar 并入薄膜内。使用 CdCl2 进行后沉积处理可提高电池效率，并在此过程中消除堆垛层错。然后，氩气积聚成簇，导致表面产生空隙和气泡。使用分子动力学，确定了 Ar 和 Xe 的穿透阈值能量，以及闪锌矿和纤锌矿相中的 CdTe。这些计算表明，与 Xe 相比，Ar 可以渗透到生长的薄膜中，并且大部分渗透穿过 (111) 表面。确定了闪锌矿中间隙 Ar 和 Xe 扩散的机理和能垒。现有星团附近的障碍减少，增加了基于捕获的星团增长的可能性。纤锌矿中的势垒较高，观察到非阿伦尼乌斯行为。这解释了堆垛层错去除后观察到的空洞尺寸的增加。还对水泡剥落进行了建模，显示了边缘凸起的浅坑的形成。