Ag(In1-xGax)Se2 thin films have been deposited on Mo-coated soda-lime glass substrates by the three-stage process using a molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system. We found a remarkable decrease in the substrate temperature during the 2nd stage in which the film composition changes to a Ag excess. A single phase chalcopyrite AIGS thin film with a slightly Ag poor composition was obtained by using the temperature monitoring composition method. The cell performance of the AIGS thin film solar cell was found to strongly depend on the Ga/(In+Ga) and Ag/(In+Ga) atomic ratios.A high efficiency wide-gap (Eg=1.7eV) Ag(In0.2Ga0.8)Se2 thin film solar cell with a total-area efficiency of 9.3% (10.2% active area efficiency), Voc = 949mV, Jsc = 17.0 mA/cm2, FF = 0.577, and total area = 0.42 cm2 was achieved. The junction formation mechanism of AIGS devices is discussed based on electron beam induced current (EBIC) and scanning capacitance microscopy (SCM) analyses.

AgGa 5 Se 8 and Ag(In 1-x Ga x )Se 2 thin films with different Ag/Ga atomic ratios have been deposited on the corning 1737 glass substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system. This crystallographic property of AgGa 5 Se 8 thin films has been investigated by x-ray diffraction and rietveld analysis. These films had the tetragonal structure with the space group of P-42m, regardless of Ag/Ga atomic ratio. The lattice parameters and the optical band gap energy decreased with an increase in the Ag/Ga atomic ratio. Thus, the structural and optical properties of these AgGa 5 Se 8 thin films were controlled by the Ag/Ga atomic ratio.