A chemical kinetic analysis of the formation of CuInSe2 at different temperatures [solar cell modules]

Understanding the mechanism of the growth of CuInSe₂ to obtain the pertinent kinetic data is essential for the effective design and real time control of processing equipment to produce CuInSe₂ solar cell modules. Species concentrations as a function of time and temperature are obtained from experiments in a tubular chemical vapor deposition selenization reactor and a physical vapor deposition selenization reactor. In the present work, a chemical reaction analysis is carried out for both reactors. Using this information, the numerical solution to the set of mass balance equations, estimates of the rate constants and the activation energies are presented. The authors believe that this reaction analysis can be used to interpret reactions which take place during formation of CuInSe₂ in a three source physical vapor deposition (PVD) reactor