Characterisation of Cu(In,Ga)Se-2-based thin film solar cells on polyimide

Thin films of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) were deposited at temperatures below 450 °C on polyimide (PI) substrates coated with Mo in a roll-to-roll set up by a combination of co-evaporation and ion-beam techniques. Flexible solar cells ITO/i-ZnO/CdS/CIGS/Mo/PI with and without Na incorporation were then fabricated. The films and solar cells were examined by: X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), to determine the elemental composition, as well as by X-ray diffraction for structure- and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for morphology-analysis. Photoluminescence (PL) and PL-excitation (PLE) at temperatures from 4.2 to 78 K were also used to estimate the band-gap energy of CIGS, examine the electronic properties and defect nature. The aim of this study was to correlate the incorporation of Na with optical and structural parameters of the CIGS layers as well as with the solar cell performance

Growth and characterization of CuxAg1-xInSe2 thin films by pulsed laser deposition

We report on structural and optical measurements made on thin films of the quaternary compounds CuxAg1-xInSe2(x = 0; 0.3; 0.5; 0.7; 1.0). The films were prepared by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) of prereacted material onto glass substrates. The substrate temperature was about 450-480 degrees C. The beam of a Nd:YAG laser was directed onto a rotating target. The resulting films were characterized by XRD, SEM, and EDAX, The films were single phase, polycrystalline and stoichiometric within 4 %. The refractive index n and the absorption coefficient alpha of CuxAg1-xInSe2 thin films were obtained by measuring the transmittance (T) and reflectance (R) in the photon energy range from 0.4 to 2.5 mu m. The optical properties were determined from rigorous expression for the transmission and reflection in an air/film/glass substrate/air multilayer system. The films had high optical absorption about 10(4) - 10(5) cm(-1) and the band gaps of 0.99 eV (CuInSe2) and 1.25 eV (AgInSe2). The energy gaps observed in laser-deposited CuxAg1-xInSe2 thin films near and above the fundamental absorption edge exhibit a nonlinear composition dependence

Temperature dependence of Raman scattering in the Cu2ZnSnSe4 thin films on a Ta foil substrate

The temperature dependence (in range from 24 to 290 K) of Raman spectroscopy of the Cu2ZnSnSe4 (CZTSe) films with Zn-rich (series A) and Zn-poor (series B) composition obtained on a Ta foil is investigated. Analisys and approximation by the Lorentz function of the CZTSe Raman spectra suggests that the CZTSe most intense Raman peak consists of two modes (at 192/189 and 194/195 cm−1), which are slightly shifted from each other. In addition, the Raman peaks around 192 and 189 cm−1 lead to asymmetric broadening of dominant peaks at 194 and 195 cm−1 in Raman spectra of the CZTSe films series A and B, respectively. In the case of the Sn-rich CZTSe films, we attribute of Raman peak around 189 cm−1 to SnSe2 compound. However in the case of the Snpoor CZTSe films, the observable shift is too high to assign confidently the 192 cm−1 band to a SnSe2 compound, which was not detected by XRD analysis. We suppose that this mode is attributed to disordered kesterite structure. The temperature dependence Raman spectra for both series of the CZTSe films shows that a change temperature from 290 to 24 K leads to position shift and narrowing of the CZTSe Raman A-modes. The calculated temperature coefficients and anharmonic constants in Klemens model approximations for temperature dependence of shift position and FWHM of the CZTSe A-modes shown that four-phonon process has dominant contribution in damping process and as a consequence in Raman spectrum changes for two series of the CZTSe films