Modification of deposition process for Cu(In, Ga)Se₂ thin film solar cells on polyimide substrate at low temperature

Abstract

We fabricate polycrystalline Cu(In, Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) film solar cells on polyimide (PI) substrate at temperature of 450 °C with single-stage process, and obtain a poor crystallization of CIGS films with several secondary phases in it. For improving it further, the two-stage process is adopted instead of the single-stage one. An extra Cu-rich CIGS layer with the thickness from 100 nm to 200 nm is grown on the substrate, and then another Cu-poor CIGS film with thickness of 1.5–2.0 μm is deposited on it. With the modification of the evaporation process, the grain size of absorber layer is increased, and the additional secondary phases almost disappear. Accordingly, the overall device performance is improved, and the conversion efficiency is enhanced by about 20%.

Keywords

Solar Cell / External Quantum Efficiency / Absorber Layer / Thin Film Solar Cell / Polyimide Substrate

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This work has been supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (No. 2012AA050701).