Study of Cu(In,Al)Se2 thin films prepared by selenisation of sputtered metallic precursors for application in solar cells

TL;DRAbstract

Cu-In, Cu-Al and Cu-In-Al metallic precursor layers were deposited using radio-frequency magnetron sputtering and selenised to produce thin films of CuInSe2 (CIS), CuAlSe2 (CAS) and CuIn1-xAlxSe2 (CIAS), respectively. The selenisation stage of this 2-stage process was carried out in a tube furnace (TF) or a rapid thermal processor (RTP) in the presence of elemental Se, either deposited on top of the precursor film or provided from an external source in the chamber, in order to fabricate the chalcopyrite material. The aim was to produce single phase, device quality CIS, CAS and CIAS for use as an absorber layer material in thin film photovoltaic solar cells. Profilometry performed on the as-deposited Cu-In-Al metallic precursors showed an important increase in surface roughness compared to the Cu-In and Cu-Al precursors. This was found to be due to the preferential formation of Cu9(In,Al)4, which stoichiometry led the excess In to form island-shaped In phases at the surface of the bulk,

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