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A low temperature, single step, pulsed d.c magnetron sputtering technique for copper indium gallium diselenide photovoltaic absorber layers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 August 2013

Sreejith Karthikeyan ,
Kushagra Nagaich ,
Arthur E Hill ,
Richard D Pilkington  and
Stephen A Campbell
Sreejith Karthikeyan
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN -55414, USA
Kushagra Nagaich
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN -55414, USA
Arthur E Hill
Affiliation:
Materials and Physics Research Centre, University of Salford, Salford, M5 4WT, UK
Richard D Pilkington
Affiliation:
Materials and Physics Research Centre, University of Salford, Salford, M5 4WT, UK
Stephen A Campbell
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN -55414, USA
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Abstract

Pulsed d.c Magnetron Sputtering (PdcMS) has been investigated for the first time to study the deposition of copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin films for photovoltaic applications. Pulsing the d.c. in the mid frequency region enhances the ion intensity and enables long term arc-free operation for the deposition of high resistivity materials such as CIGS. It has the potential to produce films with good crystallinity, even at low substrate temperatures. However, the technique has not generally been applied to the absorber layers for photovoltaic applications. The growth of stoichiometric p-type CIGS with the desired electro-optical properties has always been a challenge, particularly over large areas, and has involved multiple steps often including a dangerous selenization process to compensate for selenium vacancies. The films deposited by PdcMS had a nearly ideal composition (Cu0.75In0.88Ga0.12Se2) as deposited at substrate temperatures ranging from no intentional heating to 400 °C. The films were found to be very dense and pin-hole free. The stoichiometry was independent of heating during the deposition, but the grain size increased with substrate temperature, reaching about ∼ 150 nm at 400 °C. Hot probe analysis showed that the layers were p-type. The physical, structural and optical properties of these films were analyzed using SEM, EDX, XRD, and UV-VIS-NIR spectroscopy. The material characteristics suggest that these films can be used for solar cell applications. This novel ion enhanced single step low temperature deposition technique may have a critical role in flexible and tandem solar cell applications compared to other conventional techniques which require higher temperatures.

Keywords

sputteringthin filmphotovoltaic
Type
Articles
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1538: Symposium C – Compound Semiconductors: Thin-Film Photovoltaics, LEDs and Smart Energy Controls , 2013 , pp. 45 - 50
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2013 

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