Wet Pretreatment-Induced Modification of Cu(In,Ga)Se2/Cd-Free ZnTiO Buffer Interface

We report a novel Cd-free ZnTiO buffer layer deposited by atomic layer deposition for Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) solar cells. Wet pretreatments of the CIGS absorbers with NH₄OH, H₂O, and/or aqueous solution of Cd²⁺ ions were explored to improve the quality of the CIGS/ZnTiO interface, and their effects on the chemical state of the absorber and the final performance of Cd-free CIGS devices were investigated. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis revealed that the aqueous solution etched away sodium compounds accumulated on the CIGS surface, which was found to be detrimental for solar cell operation. Wet treatment with NH₄OH solution led to a reduced photocurrent, which was attributed to the thinning (or removal) of an ordered vacancy compound (OVC) layer on the CIGS surface as evidenced by an increased Cu XPS peak intensity after the NH₄OH treatment. However, the addition of Cd²⁺ ions to the NH₄OH aqueous solution suppressed the etching of the OVC by NH₄OH, explaining why such a negative effect of NH₄OH is not present in the conventional chemical bath deposition of CdS. The band alignment at the CIGS/ZnTiO interface was quantified using XPS depth profile measurements. A small cliff-like conduction band offset of -0.11 eV was identified at the interface, which indicates room for further improvement of efficiency of the CIGS/ZnTiO solar cells once the band alignment is altered to a slight spike by inserting a passivation layer with a higher conduction band edge than ZnTiO. Combination of the small cliff conduction band offset at the interface, removal of the Na compound via water, and surface doping by Cd ions allowed the application of ZnTiO buffer to CIGS treated with Cd solutions, exhibiting an efficiency of 80% compared to that of a reference CIGS solar cell treated with the CdS.

Sputtered Inx(O,S)y Buffer Layers for Cu(In,Ga)Se2 Thin-Film Solar Cells: Engineering of Band Alignment and Interface Properties

We propose a simple approach to engineering the sputtered In_x(O,S)_y/Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ heterojunction, in terms of band alignment and interface properties. The band alignment was tailored by tuning the base pressure of the sputtering deposition to incorporate oxygen into deposited In₂S₃ layers (termed as In_x(O,S)_y). The interface properties were improved by optimizing the air-annealing temperature on In_x(O,S)_y/Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ stacked layers. Increasing the base pressure raises the O/(S + O) ratio contained in deposited In_x(O,S)_y films and thus widens the band gaps. This could effectively tailor the conduction band offset (ΔE_C) at the In_x(O,S)_y/Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ interface from a cliff (-0.25 eV) to a nearly flat band (0.07 eV) alignment. On the other hand, the extra air annealing at 235 °C did not significantly change the band alignment but did ameliorate the interface properties by reducing the Cu content at the Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ surface and diminish the interface defect density induced by sputtering damages. The former might enhance the type of inversion and increase the hole barrier at the interface, preventing the detrimental recombination behavior. The latter could effectively strengthen the junction quality. Consequently, our approach substantially enhances the cell efficiency from 2.30% to 11.04%.

Breakthrough to Non-Vacuum Deposition of Single-Crystal, Ultra-Thin, Homogeneous Nanoparticle Layers: A Better Alternative to Chemical Bath Deposition and Atomic Layer Deposition

Most thin-film techniques require a multiple vacuum process, and cannot produce high-coverage continuous thin films with the thickness of a few nanometers on rough surfaces. We present a new ”paradigm shift” non-vacuum process to deposit high-quality, ultra-thin, single-crystal layers of coalesced sulfide nanoparticles (NPs) with controllable thickness down to a few nanometers, based on thermal decomposition. This provides high-coverage, homogeneous thickness, and large-area deposition over a rough surface, with little material loss or liquid chemical waste, and deposition rates of 10 nm/min. This technique can potentially replace conventional thin-film deposition methods, such as atomic layer deposition (ALD) and chemical bath deposition (CBD) as used by the Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) thin-film solar cell industry for decades. We demonstrate 32% improvement of CIGS thin-film solar cell efficiency in comparison to reference devices prepared by conventional CBD deposition method by depositing the ZnS NPs buffer layer using the new process. The new ZnS NPs layer allows reduction of an intrinsic ZnO layer, which can lead to severe shunt leakage in case of a CBD buffer layer. This leads to a 65% relative efficiency increase.

Understanding the light soaking effect of ZnMgO buffer in CIGS solar cells

This study investigated the mechanism underlying the light soaking effect of a ZnMgO buffer in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells, where the cell efficiency increased with an increase of light soaking time. The ZnMgO buffer layer was deposited by an atomic layer deposition method. With light soaking, the cell efficiency of ZnMgO/CIGS cells increased mainly by the increase of the fill factor and partly by the increase of the open-circuit voltage. With light soaking, the electron carrier concentration of the ZnMgO layer increased and the XPS intensity of the hydroxyl bond in the ZnMgO layer decreased. Based on the above results and the comparison of other buffers in literature, we assumed that the hydrogen atoms broken away from the hydroxyl bond by photon irradiation occupied the interstitial sites of the ZnMgO layer as a donor atom and also passivated the defects at the ZnMgO/CIGS interface. The increase of the fill factor and open circuit voltage was explained based on H doping in the ZnMgO layer and H passivation at the ZnO/CIGS interface.