Overview of the US DOE/NREL polycrystalline thin-film photovoltaic technologies

A High‐Efficiency Solution‐Deposited Thin‐Film Photovoltaic Device

“…While commercial production of CIGS modules has recently commenced, attaining reproducible, homogeneous and appropriately tailored CIGS films over large areas continues to pose a daunting hurdle for the development of pervasive cost-competitive PV technology. [12,21] In an effort to significantly reduce fabrication costs relative to vacuum-based approaches (e.g., no vacuum requirements, less energy intensive deposition, better materials utilization efficiency), as well as known solution-based approaches (e.g., fewer processing steps, no high-temperature selenization treatment, more facile Ga incorporation), we are pursuing a simple molecular-based approach for solution-depositing CIGS layers. The targeted hydrazine-based deposition process relies on forming a soluble molecular-based precursor comprising metal chalcogenide anions separated by hydrazinium (i.e., N 2 H 5 þ ) cations, analogous to that described previously for the deposition of ultrathin (nanometer-scaled) films of chalcogenides for transistor applications, [22][23][24] but with the added requirement of orders of magnitude thicker (micrometer-scaled) films and more complex stoichiometry control.…”

Estimation Of Lattice Constants And Type Of Conductivity Of CBD CIAS Thin Films From EDAX Spectra

“…Non-stoichiometry parameter- Dependences of aluminum concentration (x) on the lattice parameters 'a' and 'c' will change linearly in accordance with the Vegard's law and are expressed by [2], a = 5.782 -0.177x c = 11.620 -0.656x…”

“…The volume of the unit cell was calculated by using the lattice constants estimated from the aluminium (x) composition estimated from EDAX spectra [2], ( The density of CIAS thin films [2] can also be evaluated using unit cell parameters (a,c) and unit cell volume V in the expression, where N is the number of crystallites in a unit cell (calculated from XRD data), M is the molar mass of the compound (363.246 gm/mole) and V is the unit cell volume respectively.…”

“…Interest was stimulated by the production of a 10% efficient CIS cell by Mickelson and Chen in 1982 [1]. Since that time there has been much activity worldwide to develop these solar cells based on the use of CIS and CIGS [2]. CIS has a direct band gap of 1.04eV with high absorption coefficient for photons with energies greater than the energy band gap [3,4].…”

A Low-Cost Approach to Fabrication of Multinary Compounds for Energy-Related Applications

“…Test modules and arrays based on CIGS-based devices have been operating outdoors for more than 10 years with little degradation. 9 The 18.8%-efficient device prepared in our research laboratory 7 is based on a multistep process using physical vapor deposition (PVD). The PVD technique is challenging to scale up because of film non-uniformity and low material utilization.…”