Thin films formed by selenization of CuInxB1−x precursors in Se vapor

Abstract

a b s t r a c tPrevious attempts in producing light absorbing materials with bandgaps near the 1.37 eV efficiency optimum have included the partial substitution of gallium or aluminum for indium in the CIS system. The most efficient of these solar cells to date have had absorber layers with bandgapso1.2 eV. It is logical that an even smaller substitutional atom, boron, should lead to a wider bandgap with a smaller degree of atomic substitution. In this study, copper-indium-boron precursor films are sputtered onto molybdenum coated glass substrates and post-selenized. In the selenized films, although X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements confirm that a CIS phase is present, Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) results indicate that boron is no longer homogeneously dispersed throughout the film as it was in the case of the unselenized precursor.

Structural, electronic, optical, vibrational and transport properties of CuBX2 (X = S, Se, Te) chalcopyrites

“…It has also been found that there are few experimental studies of alloys, especially related to CuInBSe 2 , in the literature. [21][22][23] On the other hand, the structural lattice parameters and electronic band gap energies of CuBX 2 chalcopyrite materials have been calculated theoretically using informatics-based approaches. 11,24 The electronic structures of CuBS 2 and CuBSe 2 have also been presented in terms of the density functional theory.…”

Ex-situ and in-situ selenization of copper-indium and copper-boron thin films

“…The results of these experiments will be published elsewhere [7]. Of importance here is that the precursor films deposited exhibited Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) depth profiling results just as expected, i.e.…”

“…With the difficulties encountered the materials were also deposited in a 978-1-4244-1641-7/08/$25.00 ©2008 IEEE selenium atmosphere. The deposition of the Cu, In, and B in the Se vapor was made necessary by the migration of the CIS material to the front of the film during the selenization process, leaving the boron to accumulate at the substrate surface [7]. This migration was discovered by a set of experiments using Auger analysis which will be illustrated in this presentation.…”