Investigations on electron beam evaporated Cu(In.sub.0.85Ga.sub.0.15)Se.sub.2 thin film solar cells

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2009.06.003 Byline: M. Venkatachalam (a), M.D. Kannan (a), N. Muthukumarasamy (b), S. Prasanna (a), S. Jayakumar (a), R. Balasundaraprabhu (a), M. Saroja (c) Keywords: CIGS; Electron beam deposition; Solar cells Abstract: CIGS bulk with composition of CuIn.sub.0.85Ga.sub.0.15Se.sub.2 was synthesized by direct reaction of elemental copper, indium, gallium and selenium. CIGS thin films were then deposited onto well-cleaned glass substrates using the prepared bulk alloy by electron beam deposition method. The structural properties of the deposited films were studied using X-ray diffraction technique. The as-deposited CIGS films were found to be amorphous. On annealing, the films crystallized with a tetragonal chalcopyrite structure. An intermediate Cu-rich phase precipitated at 200[degrees]C and dissociated at higher annealing temperatures. Average grain size calculated from the XRD spectra indicated that the films had a nano-crystalline structure and was further corroborated by AFM analysis of the sample surface. The chemical constituents present in the deposited CIGS films were identified using energy dispersive X-ray analysis. CIGS based solar cells were then fabricated on molybdenum and ITO coated glass substrates and the efficiencies have been evaluated. Author Affiliation: (a) Thin Film Center, Department of Physics, PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, India (b) Department of Physics, Coimbatore Institute of Technology, Coimbatore, India (c) Department of Electronics, Erode Arts College, Erode, India Article History: Received 27 April 2008; Revised 20 May 2009; Accepted 3 June 2009 Article Note: (miscellaneous) Communicated by: Associate Editor Takhir Razykov