We investigated the effects of the microstructures of molybdenum (Mo) back contacts on sodium (Na) diffusion from sodalime glass into a Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 (CIGS) absorber as a function of the sputter deposition pressure during preparation of the Mo contact layer. The surface characteristics of the Mo layers more significantly affected the diffusion of Na ions into the CIGS compared with the Mo bulk. The Na ion diffusion depended strongly on the amount of oxygen adsorbed onto the Mo layer surfaces. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy results showed that Na accumulated in a layer (Na-O compound) on the Mo surface (the CIGS/Mo interface), and this layer served as a primary source of Na ions diffusing into the CIGS. A trilayered Mo back contact structure was prepared in an effort to decouple the functions of electrical conductance and Na diffusion. The ability of this surface to control the Na concentration in a CIGS absorber is discussed.

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The thermal stability of Mo thin films is indispensable to Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells: CIGS films are deposited above 500 °C. The thermal stabilities of Mo thin films with dense to porous Mo microstructures, which are varied by controlling the sputtering pressure, are investigated. Interface failures are found to occur in buckling mode in denser Mo films, whereas cracking arises in less dense films. The failure modes are apparently dependent on the sign of the residual stress: the former is due to compressive stress, whereas the latter is due to tensile stress. Interestingly, the softening of soda-lime glass at high temperatures reconfigures the film stresses to be more compressive after annealing, which in turn triggers buckling even in films that are tensile-stressed in the as-deposited states. We conclude that the appropriate processing conditions for thermally stable back contacts cannot be obtained with the simple single layer approach. On the basis of this relationship between microstructure, residual stress and the failure modes, it is shown that improvements in film adhesion can widen the processing window for the preparation of robust back contacts, i.e. with a conventional bilayer approach and substrate roughening. Since the bilayer approach employed more compliant porous structures in the bottom layer, back contacts that are better suited to higher stress and temperature can be produced. Furthermore, substrate roughening might make the back contact more conductive as well as more stable because adhesion can be enhanced without the use of an electrically resistive buffer layer.

The surface microstructures of molybdenum (Mo) back contacts were shown to play a crucial role in the preferred orientations of Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 (CIGS) films. The lower surface density of Mo tends to drive the growth of CIGS films toward favoring a (220)/(204) orientation, attributed to the higher likelihood of a MoSe 2 reaction. This work showed that the presence of a very thin layer on a Mo bilayer facilitated the tuning of the CIGS grain orientations from strongly favoring (112) to strongly favoring (220)/(204) without sacrificing the electrode conductivity. The efficiency of Na-doped CIGS cells was increased toward decreasing Mo surface density, that is, increasing (220)/(204) CIGS orientation. Although slight changes in Na doping found between different Mo surface properties could contribute in part, the comparison with Na-reduced CIGS cells showed that it was more likely due to the (220)/(204) orientation-related enhancement of CdS/CIGS junction characteristics, which were possibly attributed to a favorable CdS reaction and a reduction in the defect metastabilities.