Laser annealing of electrodeposited CuInSe2 semiconductor precursors: experiment and modeling

Meadows, H. J.; Misra, S.; Simonds, B. J.; Kurihara, M.; Schuler, T.; Reis-Adonis, V.; Bhatia, A.; Scarpulla, M. A.; Dale, Phillip J.

doi:10.1039/c6tc03623f

Laser annealing of electrodeposited CuInSe₂ semiconductor precursors: experiment and modeling

Journal Article · Fri Nov 25 00:00:00 EST 2016 · Journal of Materials Chemistry C

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1039/c6tc03623f· OSTI ID:1579845

Meadows, H. J. ^[1]; Misra, S. ^[2]; Simonds, B. J. ^[3]; Kurihara, M. ^[4]; Schuler, T. ^[4]; Reis-Adonis, V. ^[4]; Bhatia, A. ^[2]; Scarpulla, M. A. ^[2]; ^[4]

Univ. of Luxembourg, Belvaux (Luxembourg); University of Utah
Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States)
National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Boulder, CO (United States)
Univ. of Luxembourg, Belvaux (Luxembourg)

Laser annealing can reduce the annealing time required to form Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)₂ (CIGSe) thin films for use in thin film photovoltaics to a single second timescale, if not faster. In this work, we use microstructural characterization coupled with modeling of the optical and thermal properties to understand the laser annealing of three types of electrodeposited precursor stacks for the CIGSe parent compound CuInSe₂. The precursor films are: stacked elemental layers Cu/In/Se, stacked binary selenides In₂Se₃/Cu_2–xSe, and a single layer of coelectrodeposited Cu–In–Se. Conceptually, these stacks are ordered in terms of decreasing stored chemical and interfacial potential free energy, consideration of which predicts that the formation of large grained CuInSe₂ from the stacked elemental layers would be the most exothermic and thus most rapid process. However we find that microstructural details of the electrodeposited films such as void fraction present in the stacked binary selenides dramatically alter the heat and mass flow. Additionally, modeling of the optical absorption within the elemental stacked precursor suggests extremely localized heating at the In/Se interface resulting in significant Se loss. Despite its lower chemical potential energy, the coelectrodeposited CuInSe₂ precursor's more uniform optical absorption of near-bandgap light coupled with its compact, low void fraction microstructure of nano-sized grains results in the most optimal recrystallization and compositional homogenization via interdiffusion. Furthermore this annealed layer formed a working device with a short circuit current density of 23 mA cm^–2. As a result, this combined modeling and experimental investigation underscores the need to consider practical micro- and nanostructure-dependent properties as well as the optical absorption and not simply thermodynamics when designing accelerated two step deposition and annealing processes for compound semiconductors.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S)

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0004946

OSTI ID:: 1579845

Journal Information:: Journal of Materials Chemistry C, Journal Name: Journal of Materials Chemistry C Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 5; ISSN JMCCCX; ISSN 2050-7526

Publisher:: Royal Society of ChemistryCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited By (2)

Continuous-wave laser annealing of metallic layers for CuInSe ₂ solar cell applications: effect of preheating treatment on grain growth Arnou, Panagiota; Lomuscio, Alberto; Weiss, Thomas P. RSC Advances, Vol. 10, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1039/c9ra06896a	journal	January 2020
A DFT study of the electronic, optical and topological properties of free and biaxially strained CuIn _1−x Al _x Se ₂ Jiang, Pingping; Boulet, Pascal; Record, Marie-Christine Journal of Materials Chemistry C, Vol. 7, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.1039/c9tc00277d	journal	January 2019

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