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

Journal Article · Sat Jun 29 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Applied Surface Science

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2019.06.279· OSTI ID:1799173

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)

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 300 °C.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

View Accepted Manuscript (Publisher)

Cite

Export

Save

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

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

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0005319

OSTI ID:: 1799173

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1532590

Journal Information:: Applied Surface Science, Vol. 493; ISSN 0169-4332

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Citation Metrics:

Cited by: 2 works

Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (24)

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 Laemmle, Anke; Wuerz, Roland; Powalla, Michael physica status solidi (RRL) - Rapid Research Letters, Vol. 7, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1002/pssr.201307238	journal	July 2013
Nano-structured morphological features of pulsed direct current magnetron sputtered Mo films for photovoltaic applications Karthikeyan, Sreejith; Hill, Arthur E.; Pilkington, Richard D. Thin Solid Films, Vol. 520, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2011.07.069	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 ${Se}_{2}$ Jaffe, J. E.; Zunger, Alex Physical Review B, Vol. 28, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.28.5822	journal	November 1983
CuIn[sub 1−x]Al[sub x]Se[sub 2] thin films and solar cells Paulson, P. D.; Haimbodi, M. W.; Marsillac, S. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 91, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1476966	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 Kato, Takuya; Wu, Jyh-Lih; Hirai, Yoshiaki IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 9, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2018.2882206	journal	January 2019
Dependence of dark current on zinc concentration in ZnxCd1−xS/ZnTe heterojunctions Abdelnaby, M.; Zekry, A.; Elakkad, F. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 29, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1016/0927-0248(93)90067-D	journal	March 1993
Polycrystalline silicon thin film transistors on Corning 7059 glass substrates using short time, low‐temperature processing Liu, Gang; Fonash, Stephen J. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 62, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.109294	journal	May 1993
Efficiency limitations for wide-band-gap chalcopyrite solar cells Gloeckler, M.; Sites, J. R. Thin Solid Films, Vol. 480-481 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2004.11.018	journal	June 2005
Experimental scheme for a stable molybdenum bilayer back contacts for photovoltaic applications Karthikeyan, Sreejith; Zhang, Liyuan; Hwang, Sehyun Applied Surface Science, Vol. 449 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2017.11.277	journal	August 2018
Electrical and optical properties of reactively evaporated indium tin oxide (ITO) films-dependence on substrate temperature and tin concentration Balasubramanian, N.; Subrahmanyam, A. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, Vol. 22, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1088/0022-3727/22/1/030	journal	January 1989
High-Temperature Degradation Mechanism of Cu(In,Ga)Se ₂ -Based Thin Film Solar Cells Kijima, Shunsuke; Nakada, Tokio Applied Physics Express, Vol. 1 https://doi.org/10.1143/APEX.1.075002	journal	June 2008
Direct evidence of a buried homojunction in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells Jiang, Chun-Sheng; Hasoon, F. S.; Moutinho, H. R. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 82, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1534417	journal	January 2003
Investigation of rapid thermal annealing on Cu(In,Ga)Se2 films and solar cells Wang, Xuege; Li, Sheng. S.; Kim, W. K. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 90, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2006.04.011	journal	November 2006
Device and material characterization of Cu(InGa)Se2 solar cells with increasing band gap Shafarman, William N.; Klenk, Reiner; McCandless, Brian E. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 79, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.361431	journal	May 1996
Low temperature selective crystallization of amorphous silicon Kakkad, R.; Liu, G.; Fonash, S. J. Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, Vol. 115, Issue 1-3 https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-3093(89)90362-1	journal	December 1989
High-efficiency solar cells based on Cu(InAl)Se2 thin films Marsillac, S.; Paulson, P. D.; Haimbodi, M. W. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 81, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1499990	journal	August 2002
Development of thin-film Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ and CdTe solar cells Romeo, A.; Terheggen, M.; Abou-Ras, D. Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 12, Issue 23, p. 93-111 https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.527	journal	March 2004
Selective area crystallization of amorphous silicon films by low‐temperature rapid thermal annealing Liu, Gang; Fonash, S. J. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 55, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.101814	journal	August 1989
Control of accidental releases of hydrogen selenide and hydrogen sulphide in the manufacture of photovoltaic cells: a feasibility study Fthenakis, V. M.; Moskowitz, P. D.; Sproull, R. D. Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, Vol. 1, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1016/0950-4230(88)85005-8	journal	October 1988
Prospects for in situ junction formation in CuInSe2 based solar cells Ramanathan, Kannan; Noufi, Rommel; Granata, Jennifer Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 55, Issue 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0927-0248(98)00042-7	journal	July 1998
Single step deposition method for nearly stoichiometric CuInSe2 thin films Karthikeyan, Sreejith; Hill, Arthur E.; Pilkington, Richard D. Thin Solid Films, Vol. 519, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2010.12.158	journal	March 2011
Relation between electrical properties and composition in CuInSe2 single crystals Neumann, H.; Tomlinson, R. D. Solar Cells, Vol. 28, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1016/0379-6787(90)90065-D	journal	May 1990
Significance of substrate temperature on the properties of flash evaporated CuIn0.75Ga0.25Se2 thin films Ahmed, E.; Tomlinson, R. D.; Pilkington, R. D. Thin Solid Films, Vol. 335, Issue 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0040-6090(98)00885-2	journal	November 1998
Photovoltaics: environmental, health and safety issues and perspectives Fthenakis, V. M.; Moskowitz, P. D. Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 8, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-159X(200001/02)8:1<27::AID-PIP296>3.0.CO;2-8	journal	January 2000

Similar Records

Correlation of polycrystalline Cu(In,Ga)Se{sub 2} device efficiency with homojunction depth and interfacial structure: X-ray photoemission and positron annihilation spectroscopic characterization

Conference · Wed Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1994 · OSTI ID:1799173

Nelson, A J; Sobol, P E; Gabor, A M; +3 more

Effects of Ga addition to CuInSe{sub 2} on its electronic, structural, and defect properties

Journal Article · Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1998 · Applied Physics Letters · OSTI ID:1799173

Wei, S; Zhang, S B; Zunger, A

Phases, morphology, and diffusion in CuIn{sub x}Ga{sub 1{minus}x}Se{sub 2} thin films

Journal Article · Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1997 · Journal of Applied Physics · OSTI ID:1799173

Marudachalam, M; Birkmire, R W; Hichri, H; +3 more

Related Subjects

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

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

Citation Formats

References (24)

Similar Records

Related Subjects