Mo Back Contact for Flexible Polyimide Substrate Cu（In,Ga）Se2 Thin-Film Solar Cells

A dc magnetic sputtering process is applied to growth of a Mo back. contact layer onto the flexible polyimide （PI） and rigid soda-lime glass （SLC） substrates. The structural and electrical properties of the Mo layer coated on the two kinds of substrates are investigated by x-ray diffraction （XRD） and Hall effect measurements. The results show that the Mo layer on SLG indicate more better crystal quality and lower resistivity than that on the PI sheets. In contrast to the SLG substrate, the resistivity of the Mo layer on PI is increased by the vacuum annealing process at the substrate temperature of 450℃ under Se atmosphere, which is attributed to the cracked Mo layer induced by the mismatch of the coefficient of thermal expansion between PI and Mo material. The Cu（In,Ga）Se2 （CIGS） solar cells based on the PI and SLO substrates show the best conversion efficiencies of 8.16% and 10.98% （active area, 0.2cm^2）, respectively. The cell efficiency of flexible CIGS solar cells on PI is limited by its relatively lower fill factor caused by the Mo back contact.     

Flexible Cu（In,Ga）Se2 Thin-Film Solar Cells on Polyimide Substrate by Low-Temperature Deposition Process

The electrical and structural properties of polycrystalline Cu（In, Ga）Se2 films grown on polyimide （PI） substrates below 400℃ via one-stage and three-stage co-evaporation process have been investigated by x-ray diffraction spectra （XRD）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and Hall effect measurement. As shown by XRD spectra, the stoichiometric CIGS films obtained by one-stage process exhibit the characteristic diffraction peaks of the （In0.68Ga0.32）2Se3 and Cu（In0.7Ga0.3）2Se. It is also found that the film structures indicate more columnar and compact than the three-stage process films from SEM images. The stoichiometric CIGS films obtained by three-stage process exhibit the coexistence of the secondary phase of （In0.68Ga0.32）2Se3, Cu2-xSe and Cu（In0.7Ga0.3）2Se. High net carrier concentration and sheet conductivity are also observed for this kind of film, related to the presence of Cu2-xSe phase. As a result, when the CIGS film growth temperature is below 400℃, the three-stage process is inefficient for solar cells. By using the one-stage co-evaporation process, the flexible CIGS solar cell on a PI substrate with the best conversion efficiency of 6.38% is demonstrated （active area 0.16cm^2）.     

Cu（In,Ga）Se2 Thin Films on Flexible Polyimide Sheet： Structural and Electrical Properties versus Composition

The structural and electrical properties of Cu（In,Ga）Se2 （CIGS） films grown on polyimide （PI） sheet using the three-stage co-evaporation process are investigated by x-ray diffraction spectra （XRD）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, Raman spectra, and Hall effect measurements, respectively. The results show that the properties of CIGS films on PI sheet are strongly dependent on the compositional ratio of Cu/（In＋Oa） （Cu/Ⅲ）. In contrast to the non-stoichiometric CIGS films, stoichiometric CIGS films show better structural and electrical properties, such as a relatively larger grain size, lower resistivity and higher carrier concentration. The flexible CIGS solar cells on PI sheet with the conversion efficiencies of 9.7% and 6.6% are demonstrated for the CIGS absorber layer with Cu/Ⅲ of 0.96 and 0.76, respectively （active area, 0.20cm^2）. The cell efficiency for Cu-poor CIGS films is limited by a relatively lower open circuit voltage and fill factor.     

CuInSe2 Films Prepared by a Plasma-Assisted Selenization Process in Different Working Pressures

The effects of working pressure on the composition, structure and surface morphology properties of CuInSe2 （CIS） films selenized with a plasma-assisted selenization process is investigated. Higher selenium content, better crystalline quality and much more regular surface particles compared to the others are found in the CIS film with 40 Pa working pressure. A Cu（In,Ga）Se2 device fabricated with the optimized plasma-assisted selenization process is demonstrated to be better than our previous result. After discussion, the reason for these phenomena is attributed to the compromise of electron temperature and plasma density.