A new simple route to grow Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin films with large grains in the co-evaporation process

In the conventional three-stage co-evaporation process to grow Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) film, a large grain is achieved by the co-evaporation of Cu and Se on (In,Ga)₂Se₃ layer at 550 °C in the second stage and then a p-type is achieved by the co-evaporation of In, Ga, and Se in the third-stage. We reported a new process where a CIGS film with a large gain and p-type is achieved by evaporation of Cu only in the second stage at 400 °C and by the Se annealing in the third stage. In the new process, thermal budget was lowered and the third-stage co-evaporation process was eliminated. It was found that the CIGS gain size increased when the Cu/(In + Ga) ratio was above 0.7 and an addition thin CIGS layer appeared on the CIGS surface. The reaction path with Cu was described in the Cu-In-Se ternary phase diagram. The cell conversion efficiency increased from 9.6 to 15.4% as the Se annealing temperature increased from 400 to 550 °C in the third stage, mainly due to the increase of open-circuit voltage and fill factor. Our process demonstrated a new route to grow a CIGS film with a less thermal budget and simpler process in the co-evaporation process.     

Improved growth of solution‐deposited thin films on polycrystalline Cu(In,Ga)Se2

CdS and Zn(O,S) grown by chemical bath deposition (CBD) are well established buffer materials for Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) solar cells. As recently reported, a non‐contiguous coverage of CBD buffers on CIGS grains with {112} surfaces can be detected, which was explained in terms of low surface energies of the {112} facets, leading to deteriorated wetting of the chemical solution on the CIGS surface. In the present contribution, we report on the effect of air annealing of CIGS thin films prior to the CBD of CdS and Zn(O,S) layers. In contrast to the growth on the as‐grown CIGS layers, these buffer lay‐ ers grow densely on the annealed CIGS layer, even on grains with {112} surfaces. We explain the different growth behavior by increased surface energies of CIGS grains due to the annealing step, i.e., due to oxidation of the CIGS surface. Reference solar cells were processed and completed by i‐ZnO/ZnO:Al layers for CdS and by (Zn,Mg)O/ZnO:Al for Zn(O,S) buffers. For solar cells with both, CdS and Zn(O,S) buffers, air‐annealed CIGS films with improved buffer coverage resulted in higher power‐conversion efficiencies, as compared with the devices containing as‐grown CIGS layers. (© 2016 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Ga梯度分布对Cu(In,Ga)Se_2薄膜及太阳电池的影响

传统制备Cu(In,Ga)Se2(CIGS)手段之一是共蒸发三步法,工艺中通过Cu,In,Ga,Se 4种元素相互扩散、作用形成抛物线形的Ga梯度分布.本文通过调整Ga源温度制备了Ga梯度分布不同的CIGS薄膜及电池.利用多种测试方法,研究了Ga梯度分布不同对CIGS薄膜表面及背面结构性质及电性质的影响,计算分析了表面导带失调值及背面电场对电池性能的影响,从而获得了合适的Ga梯度分布,提高了电池光谱相应,获得了较好的电池性能参数.     

不同成分比例CIGS薄膜及太阳电池的快速退火

研究了110~180 ℃(2 min)下的快速热退火对Cu(In,Ga)Se2(CIGS)薄膜特性及CIGS太阳电池性能的影响.结果表明:对于不同成分比例的CIGS(正常、富Cu、高Ga)电池来说,150 ℃,2 min的快速退火最利于电池性能及二极管特性的增加.其中,退火对富Cu电池的开路电压Voc改善最大,这是因为快速热退火对消除部分CIGS薄膜中的CuSex有积极作用,从薄膜的电阻率有少量提高,器件的短路电流Jsc有少量下降可以得到验证;而对于高Ga电池来说,填充因子FF的改善最大,这是因为高Ga样品的缺陷较多,退火会消除薄膜内部的部分缺陷,从而薄膜的迁移率及Jsc都有所提高,使得FF有较大的增加.     

电沉积Cu(In,Ga)Se_2预置层硫化退火制备Cu(In,Ga)(Se,S)_2薄膜及表征

在550℃下的H2S气氛中退火处理电沉积制备的Cu(In,Ga)Se2(CIGS)预置层,制备了太阳电池光吸收层Cu(In,Ga)(Se,S)2(CIGSS)薄膜.采用X射线能量色散谱、俄歇电子能谱、扫描电镜、X射线衍射和拉曼光谱对退火前后的薄膜进行表征.结果表明,H2S气氛下退火能够实现薄膜中O的去除和S的掺入,同时使得各元素的纵向分布更加均匀并可消除Cu-Se微相.此外,H2S退火还可改善薄膜的结晶性能,并使S和Ga进入黄铜矿结构,薄膜晶格参数变小.     

低温超薄高效Cu(In,Ga)Se2太阳电池的实现

衬底温度保持恒定, 在Se气氛下按照一定的元素配比顺序蒸发Ga, In, Cu制备厚度约为0.7 μrm的Cu(In_0.7Ga_0.3)Se₂ (CIGS)薄膜. 利用X射线衍射仪分析薄膜的晶体结构及物相组成, 扫描电子显微镜表征薄膜形貌及结晶质量, 二次离子质谱仪测试薄膜内部元素分布, 拉曼散射谱 分析薄膜表面构成, 带积分球附件的分光光度计测量薄膜光学性能. 研究发现在Ga-In-Se预制层内, In主要通过晶界扩散引起Ga/(Ga+In)分布均匀化. 衬底温度高于450 ℃时, 薄膜呈现单一的Cu(In_0.7Ga_0.3)Se₂相; 低于400℃, 薄膜存在严重的Ga的两相分离现象, 且高含Ga相主要存在于薄膜的上下表面; 低于300 ℃, 薄膜结晶质量进一步恶化. 薄膜表层的高含Ga相Cu(In_0.5Ga_0.5)Se₂以小晶粒形式均匀分布于薄膜表面, 增加了薄膜的粗糙度, 在电池内形成陷光结构, 提高了超薄电池对光的吸收. 加上带隙值较小的低含Ga相的存在, 使电池短路电流密度得到较大改善. 衬底温度在550 ℃–350 ℃变化时, 短路电流密度J_SC是影响超薄电池转换效率的主要因素; 而衬底温度T_sub低于300 ℃时, 开路电压V_OC和填充因子FF降低已成为电池性能减退的主要原因. T_sub为350 ℃时制备的0.7 μm左右的超薄CIGS电池转换效率达到了10.3%. 关键词： 2薄膜')" href="#">Cu(In,Ga)Se₂薄膜 衬底温度 超薄 太阳电池     

Preparation and characterization of Cu(In,Ga)(Se,S)2 films without selenization by co-sputtering from Cu(In,Ga)Se2 quaternary and In2S3 targets

In this study, Cu(In,Ga)(Se,S)₂ (CIGSS) thin films were deposited onto a bi-layer Mo coated soda-lime glass by co-sputtering a chalcopyrite Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) quaternary alloy target and an In₂S₃ binary target. A one-stage annealing process was performed to form CIGSS chalcopyrite phase without post-selenization. Experimental results show that CIGSS films were prepared by the proposed co-sputter process via CIGS (70 W by radio frequency) and In₂S₃ (30 W by direct current) with a substrate temperature of 373 K, working pressure of 0.67 Pa, and one-stage annealing at 798 K for 30 min. The stoichiometry ratios of the CIGSS film were Cu/(In + Ga) = 0.92, Ga/(In + Ga) = 0.26, and Se/(S) = 0.49 that approached device-quality stoichiometry ratio (Cu/(In + Ga) < 0.95, Ga/(In + Ga) < 0.3, and (Se/S) ≈ 0.5). The resistivity of the sample was 14.8 Ω cm, with a carrier concentration of 3.4 × 10¹⁷ cm⁻³ and mobility of 1.2 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹. The resulting film exhibited p-type conductivity with a double graded band-gap structure.     

Investigation of local electronic transport and surface potential distribution of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin-films

Local current mapping and surface potential distributions on polycrystalline Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) films are investigated by conductive atomic force microscopy and Kelvin probe force microscopy. The two kinds of samples fabricated by co-evaporation had extremely different conversion efficiencies of 10% and 0.2% for stoichiometric and Cu- and Se-deficient compositions, respectively. We examined the microscopic reasons for the differences in the local electrical properties. Current mapping and current–voltage behaviors were measured at intragrain regions (IGs) and grain boundaries (GBs). Electronic transport between a Pt scanning probe and the CIGS layer is explained by the Schottky conduction mechanism. The surface potential distribution shows an intriguing relation with topological variation, inferring that a local built-in potential is possibly formed on positively charged GBs. The surface potential is about 100 mV, which shows energy band bending near GBs in the films. Exciton separation near GBs is explained by the bending of the conduction and valence bands, which is sensitive to compositional and structural inhomogeneities.     

Cu元素对Cu(In,Ga)Se_2薄膜及太阳电池的影响

Cu元素成分对Cu(In,Ga)Se2(简称CIGS)薄膜材料的电学性质及其电池器件性能有很重要的影响.本文利用蒸发法制备了贫Cu和富Cu的CIGS吸收层(0.7Cu/(Ga+In)1.15)及相应的电池器件.扫描电镜和Hall测试发现,富Cu材料的结构特性(晶粒大、结晶状态好)和电学特性(电阻率低、迁移率高等)优于贫Cu材料,而性能测试表明贫Cu器件的效率优于富Cu器件.变温性能测试分析表明,贫Cu器件的主要复合路径是体复合,激活能与CIGS禁带宽度相当;富Cu器件的主要复合路径是界面复合,其激活能远小于CIGS禁带宽度,这大大降低了开路电压Voc,从而降低了电池效率.最后利用蒸发三步法制备了体材料稍富Cu表面贫Cu的CIGS吸收层,降低了短路电流和开路电压的损失,获得了超过15%的电池效率.     

Stage2沉积速率对低温生长CIGS薄膜特性及器件的影响

研究了三步法第二步沉积速率对低温生长Cu(In,Ga)Se₂薄膜结构、 电学特性和器件特性的影响. 通过改变第二步沉积速率发现, 提高沉积速率可以显著促进薄膜晶粒生长, 提高晶粒紧凑程度降低晶界复合, 同时有效改善两相分离现象, 提高电池的开路电压和短路电流, 有助于Cu(In,Ga)Se₂电池光电转换效率的提高. 但同时研究表明, 随着第二步沉积速率的增加, 会促进暂态Cu_2-xSe晶粒的生长, 引起Cu(In,Ga)Se₂薄膜表面粗糙度增大, 并阻碍Na向Cu(In,Ga)Se₂薄膜表面的扩散, 造成施主缺陷钝化效应降低, 薄膜载流子浓度下降和电阻率升高, 且过高的沉积速率会引起电池内部复合增加并产生分流路径, 造成开路电压下降进而引起电池效率恶化. 最终, 通过最佳化第二步沉积速率, 在衬底温度为420℃时, 得到最高转换效率为11.24%的Cu(In,Ga)Se₂薄膜太阳电池.     

Cu(In,Ga)Se2太阳能电池快速热退火效应

利用光致发光（PL）分析快速热退火对Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS)电池的影响,研究退火对薄膜缺陷的影响。Cu(In,Ga)Se2电池的PL谱中总共有 7个峰,即2个可见波段峰和5个红外波段峰。退火温度较低,可减少薄膜体内缺陷,提高载流子浓度,改善薄膜质量;退火温度过高,则会引起正常格点处元素扩散,元素化学计量比改变,体内缺陷增加,吸收层带隙降低,反而会对CIGS薄膜造成破坏。     

Growth mechanism of thermally processed Cu(In,Ga)S2 precursors for printed Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2 solar cells

We investigate a process used for the selenisation of particle‐based precursors to prepare low‐cost Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)₂ (CIGS) solar cells. It is suitable for high throughput with a short optimum selenisation duration of 3–5 min and employs a rapid thermal annealing system with elemental selenium vapour. Homogeneous crack‐free Cu(In,Ga)S₂ precursor films of up to 1 µm are obtained via doctor blading. The high selenium vapour pressure in the selenisation reaction chamber results in the formation of a compact Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)₂ layer on top of a carbon‐rich underlayer. In order to investigate the phase development in the film, the selenisation process was interrupted at different stages and the samples were monitored via XRD and surface‐sensitive Raman measurements. We find the formation of a polycrystalline Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ phase already after 1 s at the target temperature of 550 °C. Furthermore, the effect of initial precursor thickness on solar cell parameters is discussed. Complete solar cells are prepared by conventional methods, leading to conversion efficiencies well above 8%. (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Optoelectrical improvement of ultra‐thin Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells through microstructured MgF2 and Al2O3 back contact passivation layer

Decreasing the absorber layer thickness of thin‐film solar cells can be an effective solution for cost reduction of photovoltaic electricity generation. Unfortunately, this reduction leads to detrimental effects such as incomplete photon absorption and increased charge carrier recombination at the rear electrode. To tackle these losses in ultra‐thin 0.5 µm Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) solar cells, we developed different passivation structures made of MgF₂ and Al₂O₃ at the molybdenum–CIGS interface, leading to localized back contacts. The influence of the distance between those contacts on the cell performance was studied by varying the periodicity of the applied 1D patterns from 6 μm to 30 μm. Thus, an increase in performance was measured for microstructured layers with a periodicity of up to 12 µm. More precisely, a MgF₂ layer yielded an increase in power conversion efficiency (PCE) of up to 9%_rel compared to an unpassivated cell design, and a passivation layer comprising Al₂O₃ led to up to a 5%_rel increase in PCE. The gains were primarily attributed to an increased reflectivity of the back contact, while the formation of a negative backside field in the case of Al₂O₃ might have contributed to this increase by preventing electrons from recombining at the backside interface. Our findings indicate a high lateral conductivity for holes inside the multicrystalline CIGS compound over few tens of micrometres, which allows an independent design of future back contacts and light‐trapping schemes.

False‐colour scanning electron microscopy cross‐section picture of a passivated solar cell, with the front contact layers coloured in green, the 0.5 µm CIGS absorber in dark red, the MgF₂ passivation layer in blue, and the Mo back contact in grey.     

Interface and bulk properties of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cell with a cracker-ZnS buffer layer

Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) solar cells were fabricated by varying the film thickness of the cracker-ZnS (c-ZnS) buffer layer from 0 nm to 20 nm, and performance was found to depend on c-ZnS film thickness. The best cell efficiency of approximately 8% was obtained from the CIGS solar cell with an 8 nm thick-c-ZnS buffer layer. To investigate the primary factor to determine the cell performance, we utilized the impedance spectroscopy (IS) reflecting interface qualities, and capacitance-voltage (CV) profiling sensitive to bulk properties. In IS results, an equivalent circuit model including the resistance and capacitance was proposed to interpret cell performance, and carrier lifetime was obtained in connection with recombination probability at p-n junction. In CV profiling, the carrier concentration in the CIGS bulk, the depletion width, and the charge distribution related to the defect states along the depth direction were evaluated. The formation mechanism of c-ZnS buffer layer is suggested by measuring the chemical states, which is closely associated with the IS and CV results. The depletion width substantially increased at c-ZnS film thickness more than 15 nm due to the diffusion of Zn atoms toward CIGS layer, resulting in negative influence on cell performance. From this study, we demonstrated that IS and CV profiling are complementary analysis tools for interpretation of the solar cell operation concerning the interface and bulk properties.     

铜铟镓硒薄膜的拉曼和可见-近红外光谱表征

采用恒电位电沉积法在ITO上制备了铜铟镓硒(CIGS)前驱体薄膜,该前驱体薄膜在充氩气管式炉中经过高温硒化可得到结晶良好的CIGS薄膜。采用X-射线衍射(XRD)、拉曼光谱(Raman)、扫描电子显微镜(SEM)和紫外-可见光-近红外光谱仪分别表征了CIGS薄膜的结构、形貌、成分以及可见-近红外光谱(Vis-NIR)吸收特性。XRD结果表明前驱体薄膜高温硒化后所得的CIGS薄膜具有(112)择优取向,薄膜中CIGS晶粒的平均尺寸为24.7nm,Raman光谱表明薄膜中的CIGS是具有黄铜矿结构的四元纯相,没有其他二元三元杂相存在。Vis-NIR测量结果表明CIGS的禁带宽度随薄膜中镓含量的增加而增加,当Ga含量达5.41%时,通过吸收光谱测得CIGS的禁带宽度为1.11eV,通过理论计算得到镓铟比为Ga/(In+Ga)=16.3%,小于SEM测量所得的镓铟比Ga/(In+Ga)=21.4%,这表明还需进一步提高CIGS薄膜的结晶度。所有测量表明优化后的ITO/CIGS非常适合用来制作高质量的双面太阳能电池。该研究提出了制备低成本CIGS前驱体薄膜及高温硒化的新方法,通过这些方法在ITO上制备了均匀、致密、附着力好的CIGS薄膜。通过上述表征可知,在新工艺下制备的CIGS薄膜结晶度高,成分合理,无杂相,光吸收性质好。与磁控溅射法类似,电沉积法非常适合大面积工业化生产,该工作对CIGS的规模化生产具有重要的借鉴意义。     

Growth of Sn(O,S)2 buffer layers and its application to Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells

Sn-based thin films as new buffer layer for Cd-free Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) solar cells were developed. The Sn(O,S)₂ films were formed on CIGS substrates by chemical bath deposition from an alkaline ammonia solution by reacting tin(IV) chloride with thiourea. Optimization of the growth process allowed the smooth and conformal coverage of the films on the CIGS substrates with a thickness of 20 nm that was a self-limited thickness in the chemical bath deposition process. XPS analysis revealed that the as-deposited films contained Sn–O, Sn–OH, and Sn–S bondings and the ratio of Sn–S bonding to Sn–O bonding was 0.3. The CIGS solar cell fabricated with a 20-nm thick Sn(O,S)₂ buffer layer had the best efficiency of 11.5% without AR coating. The open circuit voltage, short circuit current, and fill factor were 0.55 V, 34.4 mA/cm², and FF = 0.61, respectively. The open circuit voltage and fill factor were low compared to the conventional CIGS solar cell with a 50-nm thick CdS buffer due to too thin Sn(O,S)₂ buffer layer.     

Chemical elaboration of well defined Cu(In,Ga)Se2 surfaces after aqueous oxidation etching

The present work is an attempt to prepare well defined surfaces of Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) thin films in order to answer to basic questions about the relationship between bulk and surface composition. The approach is to use an oxidative etch with an aqueous bromine solution, known to lead to specular surfaces. The CIGS surface is then analyzed by mechanical profilometry, SEM and XPS, allowing for determination of the surface roughness and the nature of surface species. After short time bromine etch, a Se⁰ film is formed on the CIGS surface which can be completely removed by KCN treatment, leaving a CIGS specular surface. An highlight result is that under specific conditions, the surface composition is close to the stoichiometry of the Cu(In,Ga)₃Se₅ copper deficient phase. This is the first time that such a study is conducted on technology relevant thin polycrystalline CIGS film. It is expected that the method described will help conducting experiments (e.g. Angle resolved XPS, SIMS, etc.) with an improved resolution.     

Compositional investigation of potassium doped Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells with efficiencies up to 20.8%

We report on the interaction between intentional potassium doping of thin film Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) solar cells, CIGS absorber composition, and device efficiency. Up to now high efficiency CIGS solar cells could not be produced with a gallium/(gallium + indium) ratio higher than 35%. The new doping process step does not only increase solar cell conversion efficiencies up to 20.8%, but also allows a shift in the CIGS absorber composition towards higher gallium content whilst maintaining this high efficiencies level. We find that the saturation of the open circuit voltages for higher gallium content that is normally observed can partially be overcome by the new doping procedure. This observation leads us to the conclusion that even on this high performance level CIGS solar cells still hold a potential for further development beyond the record values reported here. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Surface modification of CIGS film by annealing and its effect on the band structure and photovoltaic properties of CIGS solar cells

The composition of Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) films employed in CIGS solar cells is Cu deficient. There can be point defects, including Cu vacancies, Se vacancies, and metal anti-site defects. The surface composition and defects are not well controlled right after CIGS film fabrication with a three-stage co-evaporation process. This fabrication technique can result in a large variation in cell efficiency. In order to control the CIGS film in a reproducible way, we annealed the CIGS film in air, S, or Se. With this annealing procedure, the Cu content of the CIGS surface was significantly reduced and Ga content was strongly increased. An intrinsic CIGS layer with a lower valence-band maximum and a wider ban gap was formed at the surface. By annealing the CIGS film, the open-circuit voltage and fill factor were significantly improved, which indicates that the surface intrinsic layer acts as a hole-blocking layer so that the surface recombination rate is suppressed. In addition to CIGS film annealing, with subsequent annealing of the completed devices using rapid thermal annealing, the efficiency and reproducibility of CIGS solar cells were markedly improved.