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Title: Effect of thermal annealing on the redistribution of alkali metals in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells on glass substrate

Abstract

The precise control of alkali-metal concentrations in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells via post deposition treatment (PDT) has recently attracted attention. When PDT is performed at an elevated temperature, an accompanying annealing effect is expected. Here, we investigate how thermal annealing affects the redistribution of alkali metals in CIGS solar cells on glass substrates and the properties of the solar cells. In addition, we investigate the origin of non-homogeneous alkali-metal depth profiles that are typical of CIGS grown using a three-stage process. In particular, we use secondary-ion mass spectrometry measurements of the ion concentration as a function of distance from the CIGS surface to investigate the impact of thermal annealing on the distribution of alkali metals (Na, Ka, and Rb) and constituent elements (Ga and In) in the CIGS absorbers. We find that the depth profiles of the alkali metals strongly reflect the density of sites that tend to accommodate alkali metals, i.e., vacancies. Annealing at elevated temperature caused a redistribution of the alkali metals. The thermal-diffusion kinetics of alkali metals depends strongly on the species involved. We introduced low flux potassium fluoride (KF) to study a side effect of KF-PDT, i.e., Na removal from CIGS, separately from its predominant effectsmore » such as surface modification. When sufficient amounts of Na are supplied from the soda lime glass via annealing at an elevated temperature, the negative effect was not apparent. Conversely, when the Na supply was not sufficient, it caused a deterioration of the photovoltaic properties.« less

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. National Inst. of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba (Japan)
  2. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
OSTI Identifier:
1429975
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5K00-71194
Journal ID: ISSN 0021-8979; TRN: US1802487
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC36-08GO28308
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Journal of Applied Physics
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 123; Journal Issue: 9; Journal ID: ISSN 0021-8979
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
14 SOLAR ENERGY; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; materials; electrochemistry; metals; diffusion; condensed matter properties; mass spectrometry; electrical properties; materials treatment; liquids; metalloids

Citation Formats

Kamikawa, Yukiko, Nishinaga, Jiro, Ishizuka, Shogo, Tayagaki, Takeshi, Guthrey, Harvey, Shibata, Hajime, Matsubara, Koji, and Niki, Shigeru. Effect of thermal annealing on the redistribution of alkali metals in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells on glass substrate. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1063/1.5016949.
Kamikawa, Yukiko, Nishinaga, Jiro, Ishizuka, Shogo, Tayagaki, Takeshi, Guthrey, Harvey, Shibata, Hajime, Matsubara, Koji, & Niki, Shigeru. Effect of thermal annealing on the redistribution of alkali metals in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells on glass substrate. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5016949
Kamikawa, Yukiko, Nishinaga, Jiro, Ishizuka, Shogo, Tayagaki, Takeshi, Guthrey, Harvey, Shibata, Hajime, Matsubara, Koji, and Niki, Shigeru. Wed . "Effect of thermal annealing on the redistribution of alkali metals in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells on glass substrate". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5016949. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1429975.
@article{osti_1429975,
title = {Effect of thermal annealing on the redistribution of alkali metals in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells on glass substrate},
author = {Kamikawa, Yukiko and Nishinaga, Jiro and Ishizuka, Shogo and Tayagaki, Takeshi and Guthrey, Harvey and Shibata, Hajime and Matsubara, Koji and Niki, Shigeru},
abstractNote = {The precise control of alkali-metal concentrations in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells via post deposition treatment (PDT) has recently attracted attention. When PDT is performed at an elevated temperature, an accompanying annealing effect is expected. Here, we investigate how thermal annealing affects the redistribution of alkali metals in CIGS solar cells on glass substrates and the properties of the solar cells. In addition, we investigate the origin of non-homogeneous alkali-metal depth profiles that are typical of CIGS grown using a three-stage process. In particular, we use secondary-ion mass spectrometry measurements of the ion concentration as a function of distance from the CIGS surface to investigate the impact of thermal annealing on the distribution of alkali metals (Na, Ka, and Rb) and constituent elements (Ga and In) in the CIGS absorbers. We find that the depth profiles of the alkali metals strongly reflect the density of sites that tend to accommodate alkali metals, i.e., vacancies. Annealing at elevated temperature caused a redistribution of the alkali metals. The thermal-diffusion kinetics of alkali metals depends strongly on the species involved. We introduced low flux potassium fluoride (KF) to study a side effect of KF-PDT, i.e., Na removal from CIGS, separately from its predominant effects such as surface modification. When sufficient amounts of Na are supplied from the soda lime glass via annealing at an elevated temperature, the negative effect was not apparent. Conversely, when the Na supply was not sufficient, it caused a deterioration of the photovoltaic properties.},
doi = {10.1063/1.5016949},
journal = {Journal of Applied Physics},
number = 9,
volume = 123,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Mar 07 00:00:00 EST 2018},
month = {Wed Mar 07 00:00:00 EST 2018}
}

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Cited by: 11 works
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Figures / Tables:

Table I Table I: Solar-cell parameters for the CIGS solar cells with absorbers annealed at 350 °C and 550 °C with low flux KF irradiation and without KF addition and the as-grown CIGS solar cell. The diode parameters obtained by fitting dark J–V curves are also listed. Tan is the annealing temperature,more » Eff. is the solar-cell conversion efficiency, Rsh is the shunt resistance, Rs is the series resistance, J0 is the reverse saturation current density, and m is the ideality factor.« less

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Works referencing / citing this record:

Role of surface microstructure of Mo back contact on alkali atom diffusion and Ga grading in Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 thin film solar cells
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