We have investigated the effect of the CdS/CdTe interdiffusion on the properties of the CdTe films and the CdS/CdTe cell performance. Sulfur (S) diffusion into the CdTe films leads to a decreased defect density in the films, improvement of cell performance, and possibly to the increase of the carrier lifetime in the films. Cell performance is improved with the increase of the amount of S in the CdTe films. S diffusion into CdTe also deteriorates the uniformity of the CdS window layers, resulting in worse cell performance. Based on this study, we propose a processing method to improve cell performance. ©1999 American Institute of Physics.