In this paper, co-evaporation of Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 (CIGS) in an inline single-stage process is used to fabricate solar cell devices with up to 18.6% conversion efficiency using a CdS buffer layer and 18.2% using a Zn 1 −x Sn x O y Cd-free buffer layer. Furthermore, a 15.6-cm 2 mini-module, with 16.8% conversion efficiency, has been made with the same layer structure as the CdS baseline cells, showing that the uniformity is excellent. The cell results have been externally verified. The CIGS process is described in detail, and material characterization methods show that the CIGS layer exhibits a linear grading in the [Ga]/([Ga]+[In]) ratio, with an average [Ga]/([Ga]+[In]) value of 0.45. Standard processes for CdS as well as Cd-free alternative buffer layers are evaluated, and descriptions of the baseline process for the preparation of all other steps in theÅngström Solar Center standard solar cell are given.

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