Effect of rapid thermal annealing of copper indium aluminium gallium diselenide solar cell devices and its deposition challenges

Sreejith Karthikeyan; Sehyun Hwang; Mandip Sibakoti; Timothy Bontrager; Richard W. Liptak; Stephen A Campbell

doi:10.1016/j.apsusc.2019.06.279

Effect of rapid thermal annealing of copper indium aluminium gallium diselenide solar cell devices and its deposition challenges

Sreejith Karthikeyan, Sehyun Hwang, Mandip Sibakoti, Timothy Bontrager, Richard W. Liptak, Stephen A Campbell

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Thin-film photovoltaic research based on ternary or quaternary absorber materials has mainly concentrated on copper (indium/gallium) diselenide, CuIn_xGa_1-xSe₂ (CIGS). This material has demonstrated exceptional energy conversion efficiencies. By altering the In/Ga ratio the band gap can be varied from 1.02 eV (for CuInSe₂) to 1.68 eV (for CuGaSe₂). However, research from leading groups showed that cells have maximum efficiency at or below 1.35 eV. This paper reports the challenges of using aluminium alloyed CIGS deposited with a single step co-evaporation method. Adding aluminium is found to reduce the bulk trap state density for wide gap devices. However, it created significant safety issues when compared to conventional CIGS co-evaporation deposition systems. The release of H₂Se when moisture comes in contact with aluminium selenide was resolved by placing exhaust lines at various places of the deposition chamber. A single phase CIAGS device with a bandgap of 1.30 eV was prepared using a co-evaporation method. The fabricated solar cell devices with CIAGS absorber layers and resulted in a photoconversion efficiency of 10.3%. A progressive rapid thermal annealing at various temperature resulted in a 10% increase in the overall efficiency at 300 °C. The efficiencies were reduced when the RTA temperature increased above 300 °C.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	105-111
Number of pages	7
Journal	Applied Surface Science
Volume	493
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2019.06.279
State	Published - Nov 1 2019

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge funding from the Department of Energy SunShot grant (No. DEEE0005319 ). Portions of this work were conducted in the Minnesota Nano Center, which is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the National Nano Coordinated Infrastructure Network (NNCI) under Award No. ECCS1542202 . Part of this work was carried out in the University of Minnesota Characterization Facility, a member of the NSF-funded Materials Research Facilities Network via the MRSEC program. SK acknowledges the support of Initiative for Renewable Energy & the Environment – University of Minnesota . Authors also acknowledge UMN Microprobe lab for WDS measurements.

Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge funding from the Department of Energy SunShot grant (No. DEEE0005319). Portions of this work were conducted in the Minnesota Nano Center, which is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the National Nano Coordinated Infrastructure Network (NNCI) under Award No. ECCS1542202. Part of this work was carried out in the University of Minnesota Characterization Facility, a member of the NSF-funded Materials Research Facilities Network via the MRSEC program. SK acknowledges the support of Initiative for Renewable Energy & the Environment – University of Minnesota. Authors also acknowledge UMN Microprobe lab for WDS measurements.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019

Keywords

CIAGS absorber
Co-evaporation
Rapid thermal annealing
Thinfilm solar cells

MRSEC Support

Shared

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Publisher link

10.1016/j.apsusc.2019.06.279

Find It

Find It at U of M Libraries

Cite this

@article{fba669e1b9dc449483fa308fd2a97df4,

title = "Effect of rapid thermal annealing of copper indium aluminium gallium diselenide solar cell devices and its deposition challenges",

abstract = "Thin-film photovoltaic research based on ternary or quaternary absorber materials has mainly concentrated on copper (indium/gallium) diselenide, CuInxGa1-xSe2 (CIGS). This material has demonstrated exceptional energy conversion efficiencies. By altering the In/Ga ratio the band gap can be varied from 1.02 eV (for CuInSe2) to 1.68 eV (for CuGaSe2). However, research from leading groups showed that cells have maximum efficiency at or below 1.35 eV. This paper reports the challenges of using aluminium alloyed CIGS deposited with a single step co-evaporation method. Adding aluminium is found to reduce the bulk trap state density for wide gap devices. However, it created significant safety issues when compared to conventional CIGS co-evaporation deposition systems. The release of H2Se when moisture comes in contact with aluminium selenide was resolved by placing exhaust lines at various places of the deposition chamber. A single phase CIAGS device with a bandgap of 1.30 eV was prepared using a co-evaporation method. The fabricated solar cell devices with CIAGS absorber layers and resulted in a photoconversion efficiency of 10.3%. A progressive rapid thermal annealing at various temperature resulted in a 10% increase in the overall efficiency at 300 °C. The efficiencies were reduced when the RTA temperature increased above 300 °C.",

keywords = "CIAGS absorber, Co-evaporation, Rapid thermal annealing, Thinfilm solar cells",

author = "Sreejith Karthikeyan and Sehyun Hwang and Mandip Sibakoti and Timothy Bontrager and Liptak, {Richard W.} and Campbell, {Stephen A}",

note = "Funding Information: The authors acknowledge funding from the Department of Energy SunShot grant (No. DEEE0005319 ). Portions of this work were conducted in the Minnesota Nano Center, which is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the National Nano Coordinated Infrastructure Network (NNCI) under Award No. ECCS1542202 . Part of this work was carried out in the University of Minnesota Characterization Facility, a member of the NSF-funded Materials Research Facilities Network via the MRSEC program. SK acknowledges the support of Initiative for Renewable Energy & the Environment – University of Minnesota . Authors also acknowledge UMN Microprobe lab for WDS measurements. Funding Information: The authors acknowledge funding from the Department of Energy SunShot grant (No. DEEE0005319). Portions of this work were conducted in the Minnesota Nano Center, which is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the National Nano Coordinated Infrastructure Network (NNCI) under Award No. ECCS1542202. Part of this work was carried out in the University of Minnesota Characterization Facility, a member of the NSF-funded Materials Research Facilities Network via the MRSEC program. SK acknowledges the support of Initiative for Renewable Energy & the Environment – University of Minnesota. Authors also acknowledge UMN Microprobe lab for WDS measurements. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019",

year = "2019",

month = nov,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1016/j.apsusc.2019.06.279",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "493",

pages = "105--111",

journal = "Applied Surface Science",

issn = "0169-4332",

publisher = "Elsevier B.V.",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Effect of rapid thermal annealing of copper indium aluminium gallium diselenide solar cell devices and its deposition challenges

AU - Karthikeyan, Sreejith

AU - Hwang, Sehyun

AU - Sibakoti, Mandip

AU - Bontrager, Timothy

AU - Liptak, Richard W.

AU - Campbell, Stephen A

N1 - Funding Information: The authors acknowledge funding from the Department of Energy SunShot grant (No. DEEE0005319 ). Portions of this work were conducted in the Minnesota Nano Center, which is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the National Nano Coordinated Infrastructure Network (NNCI) under Award No. ECCS1542202 . Part of this work was carried out in the University of Minnesota Characterization Facility, a member of the NSF-funded Materials Research Facilities Network via the MRSEC program. SK acknowledges the support of Initiative for Renewable Energy & the Environment – University of Minnesota . Authors also acknowledge UMN Microprobe lab for WDS measurements. Funding Information: The authors acknowledge funding from the Department of Energy SunShot grant (No. DEEE0005319). Portions of this work were conducted in the Minnesota Nano Center, which is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the National Nano Coordinated Infrastructure Network (NNCI) under Award No. ECCS1542202. Part of this work was carried out in the University of Minnesota Characterization Facility, a member of the NSF-funded Materials Research Facilities Network via the MRSEC program. SK acknowledges the support of Initiative for Renewable Energy & the Environment – University of Minnesota. Authors also acknowledge UMN Microprobe lab for WDS measurements. Publisher Copyright: © 2019

PY - 2019/11/1

Y1 - 2019/11/1

N2 - Thin-film photovoltaic research based on ternary or quaternary absorber materials has mainly concentrated on copper (indium/gallium) diselenide, CuInxGa1-xSe2 (CIGS). This material has demonstrated exceptional energy conversion efficiencies. By altering the In/Ga ratio the band gap can be varied from 1.02 eV (for CuInSe2) to 1.68 eV (for CuGaSe2). However, research from leading groups showed that cells have maximum efficiency at or below 1.35 eV. This paper reports the challenges of using aluminium alloyed CIGS deposited with a single step co-evaporation method. Adding aluminium is found to reduce the bulk trap state density for wide gap devices. However, it created significant safety issues when compared to conventional CIGS co-evaporation deposition systems. The release of H2Se when moisture comes in contact with aluminium selenide was resolved by placing exhaust lines at various places of the deposition chamber. A single phase CIAGS device with a bandgap of 1.30 eV was prepared using a co-evaporation method. The fabricated solar cell devices with CIAGS absorber layers and resulted in a photoconversion efficiency of 10.3%. A progressive rapid thermal annealing at various temperature resulted in a 10% increase in the overall efficiency at 300 °C. The efficiencies were reduced when the RTA temperature increased above 300 °C.

AB - Thin-film photovoltaic research based on ternary or quaternary absorber materials has mainly concentrated on copper (indium/gallium) diselenide, CuInxGa1-xSe2 (CIGS). This material has demonstrated exceptional energy conversion efficiencies. By altering the In/Ga ratio the band gap can be varied from 1.02 eV (for CuInSe2) to 1.68 eV (for CuGaSe2). However, research from leading groups showed that cells have maximum efficiency at or below 1.35 eV. This paper reports the challenges of using aluminium alloyed CIGS deposited with a single step co-evaporation method. Adding aluminium is found to reduce the bulk trap state density for wide gap devices. However, it created significant safety issues when compared to conventional CIGS co-evaporation deposition systems. The release of H2Se when moisture comes in contact with aluminium selenide was resolved by placing exhaust lines at various places of the deposition chamber. A single phase CIAGS device with a bandgap of 1.30 eV was prepared using a co-evaporation method. The fabricated solar cell devices with CIAGS absorber layers and resulted in a photoconversion efficiency of 10.3%. A progressive rapid thermal annealing at various temperature resulted in a 10% increase in the overall efficiency at 300 °C. The efficiencies were reduced when the RTA temperature increased above 300 °C.

KW - CIAGS absorber

KW - Co-evaporation

KW - Rapid thermal annealing

KW - Thinfilm solar cells

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85068513804&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85068513804&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.apsusc.2019.06.279

DO - 10.1016/j.apsusc.2019.06.279

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85068513804

SN - 0169-4332

VL - 493

SP - 105

EP - 111

JO - Applied Surface Science

JF - Applied Surface Science

ER -

Effect of rapid thermal annealing of copper indium aluminium gallium diselenide solar cell devices and its deposition challenges

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

MRSEC Support

UN SDGs

Publisher link

Find It

Other files and links

Fingerprint

MRFN

MRSEC IRG-2: Sustainable Nanocrystal Materials

Cite this

Effect of rapid thermal annealing of copper indium aluminium gallium diselenide solar cell devices and its deposition challenges

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

MRSEC Support

UN SDGs

Publisher link

Find It

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Projects

MRFN

MRSEC IRG-2: Sustainable Nanocrystal Materials

Cite this