Effects of Free Carriers on the Optical Properties of Doped CdO for Full-Spectrum Photovoltaics

The electrical and optical properties of cadmium oxide indicate that thin films of the material could be good transparent electrodes for high-efficiency multijunction solar cells, though its complex dielectric function depends drastically on carrier concentration. This comprehensive study correlates CdO's optical gap, free-carrier absorption, refractive index, high-frequency dielectric constant, and electron effective mass with dopant concentration and species. These results are crucial for engineering optoelectronic devices based on this transparent conducting oxide.