Title :
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
Abstract :
The details of design of experiment (DOE) studies involving thioacetamide treatment performed on Cu(In1-xGax)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(In1-xGax)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;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2005. Conference Record of the Thirty-first IEEE
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-8707-4
DOI :
10.1109/PVSC.2005.1488151
