Photovoltaic (PV) cells have long been an attractive alternative for the consumption of fossil fuels but current manufacturing practices suffer from poor energy efficiency, large carbon footprints, low material utilization, high processing temperatures and high solvent usage. A critical step in PV production is the deposition of CdS as a thin film to serve as a "buffer layer" between the optically absorbent layer and the transparent conducting oxide (TCO) layer to complete an effective p-n junction.
The development of an inexpensive, low temperature, constant flow deposition process for producing CdS films is investigated. Micro-assisted solution concepts are implemented to promote the selectivity of heterogeneous surface reactions over homogeneous bulk precipitation. Analytical models based off Hagen-Poiseuille equation for fluid flow are coupled with computational fluid dynamic simulations to produce uniform flow fields within the deposition step permitting uniform film coverage on large substrates. / Graduation date: 2011 / Access restricted to the OSU Community at author's request from Jan. 11, 2011-Jan. 11, 2012.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/19809 |
| Date | 12 January 2011 |
| Creators | Hires, Clayton Lamar |
| Contributors | Paul, Brian K. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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