• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.432-438
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• 2011

In this study, chemical bath deposited (CBD) indium sulfide buffer layers were investigated as a possible substitution for the cadmium sulfide buffer layer in CIGS thin film solar cells. The performance of the $In_2S_3$/CIGS solar cell dramatically improved when the films were annealed at $300^{\circ}C$ in inert gas after the buffer layer was grown on the CIGS film. The thickness of the indium sulfide buffer layer was 80 nm, but decreased to 60 nm after annealing. From the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy it was found that the chemical composition of the layer changed to indium oxide and indium sulfide from the as-deposited indium hydroxide and sulfate states. Furthermore, the overall atomic concentration of the oxygen in the buffer layer decreased because deoxidation occurred during annealing. In addition, an In-thin layer was inserted between the indium sulfide buffer and CIGS in order to modify the $In_2S_3$/CIGS interface. The $In_2S_3$/CIGS solar cell with the In interlayer showed improved photovoltaic properties in the $J_{sc}$ and FF values. Furthermore, the $In_2S_3$/CIGS solar cells showed higher quantum efficiency in the short wavelength region. However, the quantum efficiency in the long wavelength region was still poor due to the thick buffer layer.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.103-110
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• 2019

Cu(In,Ga)₃Se₅ (β-CIGS) has a band gap of 1.35 eV, which is an optimum value for high solar-energy conversion efficiency. The effects of Cu and Ga content on the cell performance were investigated previously. However, the effect of Se content on the cell performance is not well understood yet. In this work, β-CIGS films were fabricated by three-stage co-evaporation of elemental sources with various Se fluxes at the third stage instead of at all stages. The average composition of five samples was Cu_1.05(In_0.59,Ga_0.41)3Se_y, where the stoichiometric y value is 5.03 and the stoichiometric Se/metal (Se/M) ratio is 1.24. We varied the Se/metal ratio in a range from 1.18 to 1.28. We found that the best efficiency was achieved when the Se/M ratio was 1.24, which is exactly the stoichiometric value where the CIGS grains on the CIGS surface were tightly connected and faceted. With the optimum Se/M ratio, we were able to enhance the cell efficiency of a β-CIGS solar cell from 9.6% to 12.0% by employing a Na₂S post deposition treatment. Our results indicate that Na₂S post deposition treatment is very effective to enhance the cell efficiency to a level on par with that in α-CIGS cell.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.376-376
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• 2011

I-III-VI2 chalcopyrite compounds, particularly copper, indium, gallium selenide(Cu(InxGa1-x)Se2, CIGS), are effective light-absorbing materials in thin-film solar application. They are direct band-gap semiconductors with correspondingly high optical absorption coefficients. Also they are stable under long-term excitation. CIS (CIGS) solar cell reached conversion efficiencies as high as 19.5%. Several methods to prepare CIS (CIGS) absorber films have been reported, such as co-evaporation, sputtering, selenization, and electrodeposition. Until now, co-evaporation is the most successful technique for the preparation of CIS (CIGS) in terms of solar efficiency, but it seems difficult to scale up. CIS solar cells have been hindered by high costs associated with a fabrication process. Therefore, inorganic colloidal ink suitable for a scalable coating process could be a key step in the development of low-cost solar cells. Here, we will present the preparation of CIS photo absorption layer by a solution process using novel metal precursors. Chalcopyrite copper indium diselenide (CuInSe2) nanocrystals ranging from 5 to 20nm in diameter were synthesized by arrested precipitation in solution. For the fabrication of CIS photo absorption layer, the CuInSe2 colloidal ink was prepared by dispersing in organic solvent and used to drop-casting on molybdenum substrate. We have characterized the nanoparticless and CIS layer by XRD, SEM, TEM, and ICP.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.142-150
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• 2012

In this Study, Mo back electrode were deposited as the functions of various working pressure, deposition time and plasma per-treatment on sodalime glass (SLG) for application to CIGS thin film solar cell using by DC sputtering method, and were analyzed Mo change to $MoSe_2$ layer through selenization processes. And finally Mo back electrode characteristics were evaluated as application to CIGS device after Al/AZO/ZnO/CdS/CIGS/Mo/SLG fabrication. Mo films fabricated as a function of the working pressure from 1.3 to 4.9mTorr are that physical thickness changed to increase from 1.24 to 1.27 ${\mu}m$ and electrical characteristics of sheet resistance changed to increase from 0.195 to 0.242 ${\Omega}/sq$ as according to the higher working pressure. We could find out that Mo film have more dense in lower working pressure because positive Ar ions have higher energy in lower pressure when ions impact to Mo target, and have dominated (100) columnar structure without working pressure. Also Mo films fabricated as a function of the deposition time are that physical thickness changed to increase from 0.15 to 1.24 ${\mu}m$ and electrical characteristics of sheet resistance changed to decrease from 2.75 to 0.195 ${\Omega}/sq$ as according to the increasing of deposition time. This is reasonable because more thick metal film have better electrical characteristics. We investigated Mo change to $MoSe_2$ layer through selenization processes after Se/Mo/SLG fabrication as a function of the selenization time from 5 to 40 minutes. $MoSe_2$ thickness were changed to increase as according to the increasing of selenization time. We could find out that we have to control $MoSe_2$ thickness to get ohmic contact characteristics as controlling of proper selenization time. And we fabricated and evaluated CIGS thin film solar cell device as Al/AZO/ZnO/CdS/CIGS/Mo/SLG structures depend on Mo thickness 1.2 ${\mu}m$ and 0.6 ${\mu}m$. The efficiency of CIGS device with 0.6 ${\mu}m$ Mo thickness is batter as 9.46% because Na ion of SLG can move to CIGS layer more faster through thin Mo layer. The adhesion characteristics of Mo back electrode on SLG were improved better as plasma pre-treatment on SLG substrate before Mo deposition. And we could expect better efficiency of CIGS thin film solar cell as controlling of Mo thickness and $MoSe_2$ thickness depend on Na effect and selenization time.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.138-138
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• 2009

Recently, thin-film solar cells of Cu(In,Ga)$Se_2$(CIGS) have reached a high level of performance, which has resulted in a 19.9%-efficient device. These conventional devices were typically fabricated using chemical bath deposited CdS buffer layer between the CIGS absorber layer and ZnO window layer. However, the short wavelength response of CIGS solar cell is limited by narrow CdS band gap of about 2.42 eV. Taking into consideration the environmental aspect, the toxic Cd element should be replaced by a different material. It is why during last decades many efforts have been provided to achieve high efficiency Cd-free CIGS solar cells. In order to alternate CdS buffer layer, ZnS buffer layer is grown by using chemical bath deposition(CBD) technique. The thickness and chemical composition of ZnS buffer layer can be conveniently by varying the CBD processing parameters. The processing parameters were optimized to match band gap of ZnS films to the solar spectrum and exclude the creation of morphology defects. Optimized ZnS buffer layer showed higher optical transmittance than conventional thick-CdS buffer layer at the short wavelength below ~520 nm. Then, chemically deposited ZnS buffer layer was applied to CIGS solar cell as a alternative for the standard CdS/CIGS device configuration. This CIGS solar cells were characterized by current-voltage and quantum efficiency measurement.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.415-415
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• 2013

We have investigated the optical and electrical properties of the CIGS thin film solar cells by the electroreflectance (ER), photoreflectance (PR), photoluminescence (PL), and photocurrent (PC) spectroscopies at room temperature. The ER spectrum had two narrow signal regions and one broad signal region. We measured PL and PC to confirm the signals at low energy region (1.02~1.35 eV), so these signals are related to the CIGS thin film, and the high energy region (2.10~2.52 eV) is related to the CdS bandgap energy. The broad signal region (1.35~2.09 eV) is due to the internal electric field by the p-n junction from the comparison between PR and ER spectra, and we calculated the internal electric field by the p-n junction. In the high efficiency solar cell, the CdS signal of ER spectrum is narrower than the lower efficiency solar cells.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.426-426
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• 2012

The CIGS absorber has outstanding advantages in the absorption coefficient and conversation efficiency. The CIGS thin film solar cells have been researched for commercialization and increasing the conversion efficiency. CIG precursors were deposited on the Mo coated glass substrate by magnetron sputtering with multilayer structure, which is CuIn/CuGa/CuIn/CuGa. Then, the metallic precursors were selenized under high Se pressure by RTP method which included. Se vapor was supplied using Se cracker cell instead of toxic hydrogen selenide gas. Se beam flux was controlled by variable reservoir zone (R-zone) temperature during selenization process. Cracked Se source reacted with CIG precursors in a small quantity of Se because of small size molecules with high activation energy. The CIGS thin films were studied by FESEM, EDX, and XRD. The CIGS solar cell was also developed by layering of CdS and ZnO layers. And the conversion efficiency of the CIGS solar cell was characterization. It was reached at 6.99% without AR layer.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.225-230
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• 2011

CIGS solar cells are kind of thin film solar cells, which are studied several years. CdS buffer layer that makes heterojunction between window layer and absorbing layer was one of issue in the CIGS solar cell study. New types of buffer layer consisted of indium sulfide are being studied these days owing to high price and environmental harmful of CdS. In this study, we demonstrated electrochemical synthesis of indium sulfide film as a buffer layer, which is cheaper and faster than other methods. A uniform indium sulfide film was obtained by applying two different alternating potentials. The band gap of the film was optimized by controlling temperature during the electrochemical synthesis. Using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and diffraction method we confirmed that ${\beta}$-indium sulfide was formed on ITO electrode surface.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.102-107
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• 2003

This study puts focus on the optimization of growth temperature of CIGS absorber layer which affects severely the performance of solar cells. The CIGS absorber layers were prepared by three-stage co-evaporation of metal elements in the order of In-Ga-Se. The effect of the growth temperature of 1st stage was found not to be so important, and 350$^{\circ}C$ to be the lowest optimum temperature. In the case of growth temperature at 2nd/3rd stage, the optimum temperature was revealed to be 550$^{\circ}C$. The XRD results of CIGS films showed a strong (112) preferred orientation and the Raman spectra of CIGS films showed only the Al mode peak at 173cm$\^$-1/. Scanning electron microscopy results revealed very small grains at 2nd/3rd stage growth temperature of 480$^{\circ}C$. At higher temperatures, the grain size increased together with a reduction in the number of the voids. The optimization of experimental parameters above mentioned, through the repeated fabrication and characterization of unit layers and devices, led to the highest conversion efficiency of 15.4% from CIGS-based thin film solar cell with a structure of Al/ZnO/CdS/CIGS/Mo/glass.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.152-153
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• 2006

The new approach to buffer layer design for CIGS solar cells that permitted to reduce the buffer absorption losses in the short wavelength range and to overcome the disadvantages inherent to Cd-free CIGS solar cells was proposed. A chemical bath deposition method has been used to produce a high duality buffer layer that comprises thin film of CdS and Zn-based film. The double layer was grown on either ITO or CIGS substrates and its morphological, structural and optical properties were characterized. The Zn-based film was described as the ternary compound $ZnS_x(OH)_y$. The composition of the $ZnS_x(OH)_y$ layer was not uniform throughout its thickness. $ZnS_x(OH)_y$/CdS/substrate region was a highly intermixed region with gradually changing composition. The short wavelength cut-off of double layer was shifted to shorter wavelength (400nm) compared to that (520 nm) for the standard CdS by optimization of the double buffer design. The results show the way to improve the light energy collection efficiency of the nearly cadmium-free CIGS-based solar cells.