Effect of rapid thermal annealing of copper indium aluminium gallium diselenide solar cell devices and its deposition challenges

Karthikeyan, Sreejith; Hwang, Sehyun; Sibakoti, Mandip; Bontrager, Timothy; Liptak, Richard W.; Campbell, Stephen A.

doi:10.1016/j.apsusc.2019.06.279

Title: Effect of rapid thermal annealing of copper indium aluminium gallium diselenide solar cell devices and its deposition challenges

Abstract

Thin-film photovoltaic research based on ternary or quaternary absorber materials has mainly concentrated on copper (indium/gallium) diselenide, CuIn_xGa_1-xSe₂ (CIGS). This material has demonstrated exceptional energy conversion efficiencies. By altering the In/Ga ratio the band gap can be varied from 1.02 eV (for CuInSe₂) to 1.68 eV (for CuGaSe₂). However, research from leading groups showed that cells have maximum efficiency at or below 1.35 eV. This paper reports the challenges of using aluminium alloyed CIGS deposited with a single step co-evaporation method. Adding aluminium is found to reduce the bulk trap state density for wide gap devices. However, it created significant safety issues when compared to conventional CIGS co-evaporation deposition systems. The release of H₂Se when moisture comes in contact with aluminium selenide was resolved by placing exhaust lines at various places of the deposition chamber. A single phase CIAGS device with a bandgap of 1.30 eV was prepared using a co-evaporation method. The fabricated solar cell devices with CIAGS absorber layers and resulted in a photoconversion efficiency of 10.3%. A progressive rapid thermal annealing at various temperature resulted in a 10% increase in the overall efficiency at 300 °C. The efficiencies were reduced when the RTA temperature increased above 300more » °C.« less

Authors:

Karthikeyan, Sreejith ^[1]; Hwang, Sehyun ^[1]; Sibakoti, Mandip ^[1]; Bontrager, Timothy ^[1]; Liptak, Richard W. ^[2]; Campbell, Stephen A. ^[1]

Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States)
Rose-Hulman Inst. of Technology, Terre Haute, IN (United States)

Publication Date:: Sat Jun 29 00:00:00 EDT 2019

Research Org.:: Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office

OSTI Identifier:: 1799173

Alternate Identifier(s):: OSTI ID: 1532590

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0005319

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Applied Surface Science

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 493; Journal ID: ISSN 0169-4332

Publisher:: Elsevier

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 14 SOLAR ENERGY; CIAGS absorber; rapid thermal annealing; co-evaporation; thinfilm solar cells

Citation Formats


                    Karthikeyan, Sreejith, Hwang, Sehyun, Sibakoti, Mandip, Bontrager, Timothy, Liptak, Richard W., and Campbell, Stephen A. Effect of rapid thermal annealing of copper indium aluminium gallium diselenide solar cell devices and its deposition challenges.  United States: N. p., 2019. 
Web.  doi:10.1016/j.apsusc.2019.06.279.

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                    Karthikeyan, Sreejith, Hwang, Sehyun, Sibakoti, Mandip, Bontrager, Timothy, Liptak, Richard W., & Campbell, Stephen A. Effect of rapid thermal annealing of copper indium aluminium gallium diselenide solar cell devices and its deposition challenges.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2019.06.279

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                    Karthikeyan, Sreejith, Hwang, Sehyun, Sibakoti, Mandip, Bontrager, Timothy, Liptak, Richard W., and Campbell, Stephen A. Sat .  
"Effect of rapid thermal annealing of copper indium aluminium gallium diselenide solar cell devices and its deposition challenges".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2019.06.279.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1799173.

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@article{osti_1799173,

  title        = {Effect of rapid thermal annealing of copper indium aluminium gallium diselenide solar cell devices and its deposition challenges},

  author       = {Karthikeyan, Sreejith and Hwang, Sehyun and Sibakoti, Mandip and Bontrager, Timothy and Liptak, Richard W. and Campbell, Stephen A.},

  abstractNote = {Thin-film photovoltaic research based on ternary or quaternary absorber materials has mainly concentrated on copper (indium/gallium) diselenide, CuInxGa1-xSe2 (CIGS). This material has demonstrated exceptional energy conversion efficiencies. By altering the In/Ga ratio the band gap can be varied from 1.02 eV (for CuInSe2) to 1.68 eV (for CuGaSe2). However, research from leading groups showed that cells have maximum efficiency at or below 1.35 eV. This paper reports the challenges of using aluminium alloyed CIGS deposited with a single step co-evaporation method. Adding aluminium is found to reduce the bulk trap state density for wide gap devices. However, it created significant safety issues when compared to conventional CIGS co-evaporation deposition systems. The release of H2Se when moisture comes in contact with aluminium selenide was resolved by placing exhaust lines at various places of the deposition chamber. A single phase CIAGS device with a bandgap of 1.30 eV was prepared using a co-evaporation method. The fabricated solar cell devices with CIAGS absorber layers and resulted in a photoconversion efficiency of 10.3%. A progressive rapid thermal annealing at various temperature resulted in a 10% increase in the overall efficiency at 300 °C. The efficiencies were reduced when the RTA temperature increased above 300 °C.},

  doi          = {10.1016/j.apsusc.2019.06.279},

  journal      = {Applied Surface Science},

  number       = ,

  volume       = 493,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Sat Jun 29 00:00:00 EDT 2019},

  month        = {Sat Jun 29 00:00:00 EDT 2019}

}

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Title: Effect of rapid thermal annealing of copper indium aluminium gallium diselenide solar cell devices and its deposition challenges

Abstract

Citation Formats

Efficiency enhancement of Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 thin-film solar cells by a post-deposition treatment with potassium fluoride : Efficiency enhancement of Cu(In,Ga)Se journal, July 2013

Nano-structured morphological features of pulsed direct current magnetron sputtered Mo films for photovoltaic applications journal, October 2011

Electronic structure of the ternary chalcopyrite semiconductors CuAl S 2 , CuGa S 2 , CuIn S 2 , CuAl Se 2 , CuGa Se 2 , and CuIn Se 2 journal, November 1983

CuIn[sub 1−x]Al[sub x]Se[sub 2] thin films and solar cells journal, January 2002

Record Efficiency for Thin-Film Polycrystalline Solar Cells Up to 22.9% Achieved by Cs-Treated Cu(In,Ga)(Se,S) 2 journal, January 2019

Dependence of dark current on zinc concentration in ZnxCd1−xS/ZnTe heterojunctions journal, March 1993

Polycrystalline silicon thin film transistors on Corning 7059 glass substrates using short time, low‐temperature processing journal, May 1993

Efficiency limitations for wide-band-gap chalcopyrite solar cells journal, June 2005

Experimental scheme for a stable molybdenum bilayer back contacts for photovoltaic applications journal, August 2018

Electrical and optical properties of reactively evaporated indium tin oxide (ITO) films-dependence on substrate temperature and tin concentration journal, January 1989

High-Temperature Degradation Mechanism of Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 -Based Thin Film Solar Cells journal, June 2008

Direct evidence of a buried homojunction in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells journal, January 2003

Investigation of rapid thermal annealing on Cu(In,Ga)Se2 films and solar cells journal, November 2006

Device and material characterization of Cu(InGa)Se2 solar cells with increasing band gap journal, May 1996

Low temperature selective crystallization of amorphous silicon journal, December 1989

High-efficiency solar cells based on Cu(InAl)Se2 thin films journal, August 2002

Development of thin-film Cu(In,Ga)Se2 and CdTe solar cells journal, March 2004

Selective area crystallization of amorphous silicon films by low‐temperature rapid thermal annealing journal, August 1989

Control of accidental releases of hydrogen selenide and hydrogen sulphide in the manufacture of photovoltaic cells: a feasibility study journal, October 1988

Prospects for in situ junction formation in CuInSe2 based solar cells journal, July 1998

Single step deposition method for nearly stoichiometric CuInSe2 thin films journal, March 2011

Relation between electrical properties and composition in CuInSe2 single crystals journal, May 1990

Significance of substrate temperature on the properties of flash evaporated CuIn0.75Ga0.25Se2 thin films journal, November 1998

Photovoltaics: environmental, health and safety issues and perspectives journal, January 2000

Efficiency enhancement of Cu(In,Ga)Se ₂ thin-film solar cells by a post-deposition treatment with potassium fluoride : Efficiency enhancement of Cu(In,Ga)Se
journal, July 2013

Nano-structured morphological features of pulsed direct current magnetron sputtered Mo films for photovoltaic applications
journal, October 2011

Electronic structure of the ternary chalcopyrite semiconductors CuAl $S_{2}$ , CuGa $S_{2}$ , CuIn $S_{2}$ , CuAl ${Se}_{2}$ , CuGa ${Se}_{2}$ , and CuIn ${Se}_{2}$
journal, November 1983

CuIn[sub 1−x]Al[sub x]Se[sub 2] thin films and solar cells
journal, January 2002

Record Efficiency for Thin-Film Polycrystalline Solar Cells Up to 22.9% Achieved by Cs-Treated Cu(In,Ga)(Se,S) ₂
journal, January 2019

Dependence of dark current on zinc concentration in ZnxCd1−xS/ZnTe heterojunctions
journal, March 1993

Polycrystalline silicon thin film transistors on Corning 7059 glass substrates using short time, low‐temperature processing
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Efficiency limitations for wide-band-gap chalcopyrite solar cells
journal, June 2005

Experimental scheme for a stable molybdenum bilayer back contacts for photovoltaic applications
journal, August 2018

Electrical and optical properties of reactively evaporated indium tin oxide (ITO) films-dependence on substrate temperature and tin concentration
journal, January 1989

High-Temperature Degradation Mechanism of Cu(In,Ga)Se ₂ -Based Thin Film Solar Cells
journal, June 2008

Direct evidence of a buried homojunction in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells
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Investigation of rapid thermal annealing on Cu(In,Ga)Se2 films and solar cells
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Device and material characterization of Cu(InGa)Se2 solar cells with increasing band gap
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High-efficiency solar cells based on Cu(InAl)Se2 thin films
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Development of thin-film Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ and CdTe solar cells
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Selective area crystallization of amorphous silicon films by low‐temperature rapid thermal annealing
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Control of accidental releases of hydrogen selenide and hydrogen sulphide in the manufacture of photovoltaic cells: a feasibility study
journal, October 1988

Prospects for in situ junction formation in CuInSe2 based solar cells
journal, July 1998

Single step deposition method for nearly stoichiometric CuInSe2 thin films
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Relation between electrical properties and composition in CuInSe2 single crystals
journal, May 1990

Significance of substrate temperature on the properties of flash evaporated CuIn0.75Ga0.25Se2 thin films
journal, November 1998

Photovoltaics: environmental, health and safety issues and perspectives
journal, January 2000