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Structural and Morphological Properties of Cu (In, Ga) Se2
Structural and Morphological Properties of Cu (In, Ga) Se2
Abstract
The objective of this work was to study the structural and morphological properties of Mo/Cu(In, Ga)Se2 thin films deposited
onto glass substrate by different techniques and thermal treatment in different atmospheres. Electron beam evaporated Mo thin
film was better back contact than the sputtered Mo film due to the structural improvements of CIGS film deposited on it. It was
also observed that an increase of the grain size and a better morphology for Ar selenized CIGS films than for the vacuum ones.
These results could lead to a decrease of the number of defects for Ar selenized CIGS films on evaporated Mo, which could
imply an enhancement of the solar cell efficiency.
# 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
0169-4332/$ – see front matter # 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.apsusc.2004.05.207
R. Caballero, C. Guillén / Applied Surface Science 238 (2004) 180–183 181
Fig. 2. SEM micrographs of CIGS thin films deposited on (a) sputtered Mo and (b) e-beam evaporated Mo.
strongly orientated in the (1 1 2) plane as the main excess observed after this thermal treatment and does
phase as well as the CuSe binary phase and Mo. After not imply necessarily a worse efficiency. An increase
Ar-selenization, thin films also showed the MoSe2 of the grain size is obtained after Ar-selenization, as
phase, which has been observed by other authors can be seen by decreasing of FWHM. The presence of
[10,11]. This new phase is associated with the Se the CuSe secondary phase was due to the fact that the
samples were Cu-rich. It is well known that KCN
solutions can dissolve Se and binary Cu–Se com-
pounds, leaving CIGS and binary In–Se compounds
intact [12]. The KCN etching was able to remove our
CuSe phase from the thin films as can be seen in
Fig. 3c.
The morphologies of CIGS thin films on evaporated
Mo are displayed in Fig. 4. Fig. 4a and b corresponds
to CIGS selenized in vacuum and Ar-atmosphere after
KCN etching, respectively. As it can be observed the
Ar selenized sample has a very smooth and dense
microstructure with bigger grain size than the vacuum
one which is much rougher. This coincides with the
results shown previously by XRD. It is well known
that the efficiency in polycrystalline solar cells
increases with increasing grain size in the absorber
Fig. 3. XRD spectra of CIGS films on evaporated Mo selenized in materials [11]. Therefore, the bigger grain growth
(a) vacuum, (b) Ar and (c) Ar with KCN etching. obtained by Ar-selenization of the metallic precursors
R. Caballero, C. Guillén / Applied Surface Science 238 (2004) 180–183 183
Fig. 4. Surface morphology of CIGS films selenized in (a) vacuum and (b) Ar after KCN etching.