Control of CIGS roughness by initial selenization temperature

Langhorst, Marsha L.; Bykov, E.; Jiang, Qiongzhong; Kim, John; Rozeveld, Steve; Mushrush, Melissa; Wall, A.; Khare, Ashish; Feist, Rebekah

doi:10.1109/pvsc.2015.7356222

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…The microstructural characteristics of the CIGS absorber, including the density, grain boundaries, grain size, and surface smoothness/roughness, are dependent on the fabrication processes [9]. For example, the CIGS absorber prepared by a three-stage co-evaporation process exhibited a smooth and dense surface morphology, while the CIGS obtained from a two-step metallization-selenization process exhibited high surface roughness [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the co-evaporation process, the quaternary CIGS films are deposited on the substrate heated to a temperature ranging from 500 to 600 °C by simultaneous or sequential delivery of elemental Cu, In, Ga, and Se fluxes [11]. Conversely, in the two-step metallization-selenization process, the quaternary or quinary Cu(In,Ga)(SeS) 2 films are produced through the selenization and/or sulfurization reaction of Cu-Ga-In intermetallic precursors, with significant volume expansion and phase evolution [10]. On the deposited glass/Mo/CIGS light absorber layers, a thin cadmium sulfide (CdS) buffer layer, an intrinsic zinc oxide layer (i-ZnO), and an n-type Al-doped zinc oxide layer (AZO) are subsequently added to complete the glass/Mo/CIGS/CdS/i-ZnO/AZO cell structure, as shown in Reference [12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Optimization of Intrinsic ZnO Thickness in Cu(In,Ga)Se2-Based Thin Film Solar Cells

2019

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The typical structure of high efficiency Cu(InGa)Se2 (CIGS)-based thin film solar cells is substrate/Mo/CIGS/CdS/i-ZnO/ZnO:Al(AZO) where the sun light comes through the transparent conducting oxide (i.e., i-ZnO/AZO) side. In this study, the thickness of an intrinsic zinc oxide (i-ZnO) layer was optimized by considering the surface roughness of CIGS light absorbers. The i-ZnO layers with different thicknesses from 30 to 170 nm were deposited via sputtering. The optical properties, microstructures, and morphologies of the i-ZnO thin films with different thicknesses were characterized, and their effects on the CIGS solar cell device properties were explored. Two types of CIGS absorbers prepared by three-stage co-evaporation and two-step sulfurization after the selenization (SAS) processes showed a difference in the preferred crystal orientation, morphology, and surface roughness. During the subsequent post-processing for the fabrication of the glass/Mo/CIGS/CdS/i-ZnO/AZO device, the change in the i-ZnO thickness influenced the performance of the CIGS devices. For the three-stage co-evaporated CIGS cell, the increase in the thickness of the i-ZnO layer from 30 to 90 nm improved the shunt resistance (RSH), open circuit voltage, and fill factor (FF), as well as the conversion efficiency (10.1% to 11.8%). A further increas of the i-ZnO thickness to 170 nm, deteriorated the device performance parameters, which suggests that 90 nm is close to the optimum thickness of i-ZnO. Conversely, the device with a two-step SAS processed CIGS absorber showed smaller values of the overall RSH (130–371 Ω cm2) than that of the device with a three-stage co-evaporated CIGS absorber (530–1127 Ω cm2) ranging from 30 nm to 170 nm of i-ZnO thickness. Therefore, the value of the shunt resistance was monotonically increased with the i-ZnO thickness ranging from 30 to 170 nm, which improved the FF and conversion efficiency (6.96% to 8.87%).

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimization of Intrinsic ZnO Thickness in Cu(In,Ga)Se2-Based Thin Film Solar Cells

2019

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Low-cost fabrication of single chalcogenide CuInGaSe2 sputter target and its thin films for solar cell applications

Suryavanshi

Panchal

2023

J Opt

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Influence of the Al-Doped ZnO Sputter-Deposition Temperature on Cu(In,Ga)Se2 Solar Cell Performance

Park¹,

Alhammadi

Reddy

et al. 2022

Nanomaterials

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Heterojunction Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells comprise a substrate/Mo/CIGS/CdS/i-ZnO/ZnO:Al. Here, Al-doped zinc oxide (AZO) films were deposited by magnetron sputtering, and the substrate temperature was optimized for CIGS solar cells with two types of CIGS light absorbers with different material properties fabricated by three-stage co-evaporation and two-step metallization followed by sulfurization after selenization (SAS). The microstructure and optoelectronic properties of the AZO thin films fabricated at different substrate temperatures (150–550 °C) were analyzed along with their effects on the CIGS solar cell performance. X-ray diffraction results confirmed that all the deposited AZO films have a hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure regardless of substrate temperature. The optical and electrical properties of the AZO films improved significantly with increasing substrate temperature. Photovoltaic performances of the two types of CIGS solar cells were influenced by changes in the AZO substrate temperature. For the three-stage co-evaporated CIGS cell, as the sputter-deposition temperature of the AZO layer was raised from 150 °C to 550 °C, the efficiencies of CIGS devices decreased monotonically, which suggests the optimum AZO deposition temperature is 150 °C. In contrast, the cell efficiency of CIGS devices fabricated using the two-step SAS-processed CIGS absorbers improved with increasing the AZO deposition temperature from 150 to 350 °C. However, the rise in AZO deposition temperature to 550 °C decreased the cell efficiency, indicating that the optimum AZO deposition temperature was 350 °C. The findings of this study provide insights for the efficient fabrication of CIGS solar cells considering the correlation between CIGS absorber characteristics and AZO layer deposition temperature.

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Control of CIGS roughness by initial selenization temperature

Cited by 3 publications

References 3 publications

Optimization of Intrinsic ZnO Thickness in Cu(In,Ga)Se2-Based Thin Film Solar Cells

Optimization of Intrinsic ZnO Thickness in Cu(In,Ga)Se2-Based Thin Film Solar Cells

Low-cost fabrication of single chalcogenide CuInGaSe2 sputter target and its thin films for solar cell applications

Influence of the Al-Doped ZnO Sputter-Deposition Temperature on Cu(In,Ga)Se2 Solar Cell Performance

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