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Title: Soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy investigation of the surface chemistry and treatments of copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS)

Abstract

The surface and near surface structure of copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS) absorber layers is integral to the producing a high-quality photovoltaic junction. By using X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and monitoring multiple elemental absorption edges with both theory and experiment, we are able to identify several features of the surface of CIGS as a function of composition and surface treatments. The XAS data shows trends in the near surface region of oxygen, copper, indium and gallium species as the copper content is varied in the films. The oxygen surface species are also monitored through a series of experiments that systematically investigates the effects of water and various solutions of: ammonium hydroxide, cadmium sulfate, and thiourea. These being components of cadmium sulfide chemical bath deposition (CBD). Characteristics of the CBD are correlated with a restorative effect that produces as normalized, uniform surface chemistry as measured by XAS. This surface chemistry is found in CIGS solar cells with excellent power conversion efficiency (<19%). The results provide new insight for CIGS processing strategies that seek to replace CBD and/or cadmium sulfide.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [3];  [3];  [3];  [3];  [5];  [3]
  1. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  2. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
  3. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  4. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research, Shanghai (China)
  5. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
OSTI Identifier:
1347563
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1334596; OSTI ID: 1476458; OSTI ID: 1495838
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5K00-67423
Journal ID: ISSN 0927-0248; PII: S0927024816304779; TRN: US1701271
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-76SF00515; AC36-08GO28308; AC02-05CH11231; AC02-05CH11231 respectively
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 160; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0927-0248
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
14 SOLAR ENERGY; copper-indium-gallium-selenide; CIGS; XAS; chemical bath deposition; surface analysis; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE

Citation Formats

Schwartz, Craig, Nordlund, Dennis, Sokaras, Dimosthenis, Contreras, Miguel, Weng, Tsu -Chien, Mansfield, Lorelle, Hurst, Katherine E., Dameron, Arrelaine, Ramanathan, Kannan, Prendergast, David, and Christensen, Steven T. Soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy investigation of the surface chemistry and treatments of copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS). United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1016/j.solmat.2016.11.003.
Schwartz, Craig, Nordlund, Dennis, Sokaras, Dimosthenis, Contreras, Miguel, Weng, Tsu -Chien, Mansfield, Lorelle, Hurst, Katherine E., Dameron, Arrelaine, Ramanathan, Kannan, Prendergast, David, & Christensen, Steven T. Soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy investigation of the surface chemistry and treatments of copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS). United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2016.11.003
Schwartz, Craig, Nordlund, Dennis, Sokaras, Dimosthenis, Contreras, Miguel, Weng, Tsu -Chien, Mansfield, Lorelle, Hurst, Katherine E., Dameron, Arrelaine, Ramanathan, Kannan, Prendergast, David, and Christensen, Steven T. Thu . "Soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy investigation of the surface chemistry and treatments of copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS)". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2016.11.003. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1347563.
@article{osti_1347563,
title = {Soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy investigation of the surface chemistry and treatments of copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS)},
author = {Schwartz, Craig and Nordlund, Dennis and Sokaras, Dimosthenis and Contreras, Miguel and Weng, Tsu -Chien and Mansfield, Lorelle and Hurst, Katherine E. and Dameron, Arrelaine and Ramanathan, Kannan and Prendergast, David and Christensen, Steven T.},
abstractNote = {The surface and near surface structure of copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS) absorber layers is integral to the producing a high-quality photovoltaic junction. By using X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and monitoring multiple elemental absorption edges with both theory and experiment, we are able to identify several features of the surface of CIGS as a function of composition and surface treatments. The XAS data shows trends in the near surface region of oxygen, copper, indium and gallium species as the copper content is varied in the films. The oxygen surface species are also monitored through a series of experiments that systematically investigates the effects of water and various solutions of: ammonium hydroxide, cadmium sulfate, and thiourea. These being components of cadmium sulfide chemical bath deposition (CBD). Characteristics of the CBD are correlated with a restorative effect that produces as normalized, uniform surface chemistry as measured by XAS. This surface chemistry is found in CIGS solar cells with excellent power conversion efficiency (<19%). The results provide new insight for CIGS processing strategies that seek to replace CBD and/or cadmium sulfide.},
doi = {10.1016/j.solmat.2016.11.003},
journal = {Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells},
number = C,
volume = 160,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Nov 10 00:00:00 EST 2016},
month = {Thu Nov 10 00:00:00 EST 2016}
}