A Novel Semiconductor CIGS Photovoltaic Material and Thin-Film ED Technology

In order to achieve low cost high efficiency thin film solar cells,a novel Semiconductor Photovoltaic (PV) active material CuIn 1-x Ga x Se 2 (CIGS) and thin film Electro Deposition (ED) technology is explored.Firstly,the PV materials and technologies is investigated,then the detailed experimental processes of CIGS/Mo/glass structure by using the novel ED technology and the results are reported.These results shows that high quality CIGS polycrystalline thin films can be obtained by the ED method,in which the polycrystalline CIGS is definitely identified by the (112),(204,220) characteristic peaks of the tetragonal structure,the continuous CIGS thin film layers with particle average size of about 2μm of length and around 1 6μm of thickness.The thickness and solar grade quality of CIGS thin films can be produced with good repeatability.Discussion and analysis on the ED technique,CIGS energy band and sodium (Na) impurity properties,were also performed.The alloy CIGS exhibits not only increasing band gap with increasing x ,but also a change in material properties that is relevant to the device operation.The beneficial impurity Na originating from the low cost soda lime glass substrate becomes one prerequisite for high quality CIGS films.These novel material and technology are very useful for low cost high efficiency thin film solar cells and other devices.