Selenization annealing effect of DC-sputtered metallic precursors using the rapid thermal process for Cu(In,Ga)Se-2 thin film solar cells

Abstract

In this study, we prepared Cu(In,Ga)Se-2 (CIGS) films using a rapid thermal process of stacked elemental layers. The properties of the CuGa and In layers deposited by DC-sputtering were investigated, and the chemical compositions of the metallic precursor were optimized by varying the thickness ratio of the In/CuGa layer. The optimized precursor was selenized under various temperatures, and the performance of the fabricated CIGS solar cells was investigated and analyzed. The experimental results showed that the performance of the CIGS solar cells improved at higher selenization temperatures. Efficiency of approximately 8.2% was achieved when the CIGS absorber was selenized at 550 degrees C for 3 min. (C) 2013 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.