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Depth Profile of Impurity Phase in Wide-Bandgap Cu(In1−x,Gax)Se2 Film Fabricated by Three-Stage Process

  • Topical Collection: 17th Conference on Defects (DRIP XVII)
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Abstract

For copper indium gallium selenide [Cu(In1−x,Gax)Se2, CIGS]-based solar cells, defect states or impurity phase always form due to both the multinary compositions of CIGS film and the difficulty of controlling the growth process, especially for high Ga concentration. To further improve device performance, it is important to understand such formation of impurity phase or defect states during fabrication. In the work presented herein, the formation mechanism of impurity phase Cu2−δSe and its depth profile in CIGS film with high Ga content, in particular CuGaSe2 (i.e., CGS), were investigated by applying different growth conditions (i.e., normal three-stage process and two-cycle three-stage process). The results suggest that impurity phase Cu2−δSe is distributed nonuniformly in the film because of lack of Ga diffusion. The formed Cu2−δSe can be removed by etching the as-deposited CGS film with bromine-methanol solution, resulting in improved device performance.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the Incorporated Administrative Agency, New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) under the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI).

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Author notes

  1. Shenghao Wang

    Present address: Materials Genome Institute, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Applied Physics, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan

    Shenghao Wang, Takehiro Nazuka, Hideki Hagiya, Yutaro Takabayashi, Muhammad M. Islam, Katsuhiro Akimoto & Takeaki Sakurai

  2. National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan

    Shogo Ishizuka, Hajime Shibata & Shigeru Niki

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  1. Shenghao Wang
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  2. Takehiro Nazuka
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Correspondence to Shenghao Wang.

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Wang, S., Nazuka, T., Hagiya, H. et al. Depth Profile of Impurity Phase in Wide-Bandgap Cu(In1−x,Gax)Se2 Film Fabricated by Three-Stage Process. J. Electron. Mater. 47, 4944–4949 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-018-6120-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-018-6120-1

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