Plasma diagnostics of an Ar/NH3 direct-current reactive magnetron sputtering discharge for SiNx deposition

Henry, F.; Duluard, Corinne; Batan, Abdelkrim; Reniers, François

doi:10.1016/j.tsf.2012.06.048

Cited by 21 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…The compound sputtering mode should then to be avoided. Since this also affects the emission intensities of excited species from the plasma [4], we characterize the hybrid process used for CIGS solar cell deposition, by following characteristics emission lines of different species present in the plasma. We distinguished at least one line per element and selected the most intense and isolated ones.…”

Section: Plasma Analyses By Optical Emission Spectroscopymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless, for reactive and hybrid CIGS deposition process, an appropriate control of the selenium flux is very important to prevent target poisoning. The poisoning reduces the deposition rate drastically and may also cause arcing which can result in defects in the deposited absorbers [4]. Typically, the variation of the target selfbias voltage provides information about the evolution of the target state under different sputtering conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Two different modes, namely the metallic mode and the reactive mode, can be very well defined. An abrupt change in the discharge voltage is characteristic of a transition from elemental sputtering mode to the compound sputtering mode [4,5]. Therefore, the measurement of discharge voltage gives only a partial view of the sputtering process and does not directly provide information on the surface chemistry.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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In-situ optical emission spectroscopy for a better control of hybrid sputtering/evaporation process for the deposition of Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 layers

et al. 2015

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Section: Plasma Analyses By Optical Emission Spectroscopymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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In-situ optical emission spectroscopy for a better control of hybrid sputtering/evaporation process for the deposition of Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 layers

et al. 2015

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“…This phenomenon results from the competition between the target sputtering and the formation of a stoichiometric compound on its surface by implantation and/or chemisorption of reactive species. The target poisoning reduces the deposition rate drastically which can result in defects in the deposited absorbers . In earlier work, we showed that optical emission spectroscopy is a reliable tool for studying the sputtering atmosphere, and to monitor the chemical species present in the plasma processes used for film deposition …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigations of temperature and power effects on Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ thin‐film formation during a 3‐stage hybrid co‐sputtering/evaporation process

Posada

Jubault

Bousquet

et al. 2017

Progress in Photovoltaics

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This work explores a strategy to bring together the advantages of co-evaporation and sputtering by developing a hybrid co-sputtering/evaporation process, where copper, indium, and gallium are sputtered with the thermal evaporation of selenium. A 3-stage hybrid co-sputtering/evaporation process for Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 (CIGS) thin films solar cells has been developed by controlling the deposition parameters (temperature, sputtering power, and evaporation). (In,Ga) 2 Se 3 layers are deposited in the first stage, followed by Cu 2 − x Se and Cu 2 − x Se/(In,Ga) 2 Se 3 layers. Material properties at different steps were studied in detail by X-ray fluorescence, energy dispersive X-ray, scanning electron microscopy, glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and Xray diffraction. Solar cells were completed leading to 9.7% efficiency. It is anticipated that this technology has the potential to further extend in the market in the coming years as shown in a recent study issued by main R&D and industrial actors.2 Record efficiencies at the cell level are increasing steadily in the recent period, reaching a certified value of 22.6% in 2016 for CIGS prepared by a co-evaporation process at ZSW. 3 A certified value of 22.3% has been also reported by Solar Frontier using a metal sputtering followed by selenization/sulfurization process. 4 Solar Frontier also reports a non-externally certified value of 22.8%. 5 A very complete review paper has been recently issued whichgives an extensive description of the state-of-the-art of the CIGS technology. 5 It appears that many approaches are competing for the elaboration of the CIGS layers, but main ones are 1-step co-evaporation and 2-step sequential sputtering/selenization and sulfuration. So, these 2 techniques are sharing the delivery of record efficiency CIGS solar cells. Co-evaporation technique has become a standard because it leads to highly efficient solar cells, with an optimized 3-stage process that controls band gap gradient by adjusting the gallium concentration.Specifically, during the 3-stage process, indium, gallium, and selenium are evaporated in the first and third stages, and copper and selenium are deposited in-between. This leads to a double gradient of the indium and gallium concentrations with increased gallium concentration towards the back and front surfaces. The in-depth gallium gradient is crucial in order to obtain very high efficiencies. 6-9The 2-stage process from sputtered metal precursors followed by selenization and sulfuration benefits from the capability of sputtering to treat large areas, but tuning the composition gradient precisely is more difficult. 10 A way to overcome this difficulty would be to combine together sputtering and selenization or sulfurization, by using an alternative reactive sputtering approach. In that case, the deposition

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“…The formation of a compound at target surface, called target poisoning, can modify the electrical characteristics of the discharge, which commonly lead to drop of deposition rate and loss of film 978-1-4799-4398-2/14/$31.00 ©2014 IEEE composition control. The compound sputtering mode should then be avoided, since this also affects the emission intensities of excited species from the plasma [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In-Situ Cu(In,Ga)Se<inf>2</inf> composition control by Optical Emission Spectroscopy during hybrid co-sputtering/evaporation process

Posada

Jubault

Bousquet

et al. 2014

2014 IEEE 40th Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC)

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In this work, we have developed a hybrid one-step co-sputtering/evaporation Cu(In,Ga)Se2 process, where Cu, In and Ga are sputtered simultaneously with the thermal evaporation of selenium, thus avoiding the use of H2Se. An appropriate control of the selenium flux is very important to prevent the target poisoning and hence some material flux variations. Indeed, the control of the CIGS composition must be rigorous to ensure reproducible solar cell properties. In this regard, a study of the correlations between plasma species, thin film composition and morphology has been performed by varying Se evaporation temperature in the 170 to 230°C range.

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Plasma diagnostics of an Ar/NH3 direct-current reactive magnetron sputtering discharge for SiNx deposition

Cited by 21 publications

References 30 publications

In-situ optical emission spectroscopy for a better control of hybrid sputtering/evaporation process for the deposition of Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 layers

In-situ optical emission spectroscopy for a better control of hybrid sputtering/evaporation process for the deposition of Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 layers

Investigations of temperature and power effects on Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ thin‐film formation during a 3‐stage hybrid co‐sputtering/evaporation process

In-Situ Cu(In,Ga)Se<inf>2</inf> composition control by Optical Emission Spectroscopy during hybrid co-sputtering/evaporation process

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Plasma diagnostics of an Ar/NH3 direct-current reactive magnetron sputtering discharge for SiNx deposition

Cited by 21 publications

References 30 publications

In-situ optical emission spectroscopy for a better control of hybrid sputtering/evaporation process for the deposition of Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 layers

In-situ optical emission spectroscopy for a better control of hybrid sputtering/evaporation process for the deposition of Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 layers

Investigations of temperature and power effects on Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin‐film formation during a 3‐stage hybrid co‐sputtering/evaporation process

In-Situ Cu(In,Ga)Se<inf>2</inf> composition control by Optical Emission Spectroscopy during hybrid co-sputtering/evaporation process

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Investigations of temperature and power effects on Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ thin‐film formation during a 3‐stage hybrid co‐sputtering/evaporation process