Variations of thioacetamide treatments on CIGS solar cells on stainless steel substrates - correlations to device performance

Author

Batchelor, Wendi K. ; Beck, Markus E. ; Repins, I.L.

Author_Institution

ITN Energy Syst., Littleton, CO, USA

fYear

2005

fDate

3-7 Jan. 2005

Firstpage

390

Lastpage

393

Abstract

The details of design of experiment (DOE) studies involving thioacetamide treatment performed on Cu(In_1-xGa_x)Se₂ (CIGS) deposited on stainless steel are discussed. CIGS films were treated in an aqueous InCl₃/thioacetamide (CH₃CSNH₃) bath varying time, temperature and salt as well as CH₃CSNH₃ concentration in order to determine the optimum conditions for surface sulfurization. Subsequent device completion employing a CBD CdS buffer was performed under nominally identical conditions. The resulting devices were compared on the basis of deposition conditions including untreated control specimens. Device efficiencies in this study ranged from 6 to 11% and did not show significant improvement over untreated controls. Procedures, results, and possible causes for disagreement with earlier studies are discussed.

Keywords

buffer layers; copper compounds; gallium compounds; indium compounds; semiconductor thin films; solar cells; surface treatment; ternary semiconductors; vacuum deposited coatings; vacuum deposition; 6 to 11 percent; CH₃CSNH₃ concentration; CIGS films; CIGS solar cells; CdS buffer; Cu(In_1-xGa_x)Se₂; design of experiment; device completion; device efficiency; device performance; stainless steel substrates; surface sulfurization; thioacetamide treatment; Chemicals; Passivation; Photovoltaic cells; Solar energy; Steel; Surface treatment; Temperature; Testing; US Department of Energy; Water heating;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2005. Conference Record of the Thirty-first IEEE

ISSN

0160-8371

Print_ISBN

0-7803-8707-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.2005.1488151

Filename

1488151