Diffusion of iron into solar-grade CIGS layers from natural and radioactive front-side sources

Obeidi, Sh.; Würz, R.; Frankenfeld, M.; Eicke, A.; Stolwijk, N. A.

doi:10.1016/j.tsf.2008.10.088

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 9 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…However, as far as the Mo/SS substrate, Fe atoms diffuse into the surface of the CIGS thin films. The results in suggest that Fe content in CIGS surface is higher than that in the CIGS bulk, which is confirmed by our results. From the aforementioned analysis that Fe hinder the [112] growth, it is reasonable that surface of the [220]‐oriented CIGS thin film still has the [220] predominance.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

Preferred orientation of Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ thin film deposited on stainless steel substrate

Zhang

Wang

et al. 2012

Progress in Photovoltaics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The influences of process parameters and Fe diffusing into Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) films on the orientation of CIGS absorbers grown on the stainless steel (SS) foils are investigated. The structural properties, morphology, and elemental profiles are characterized using X‐ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and second ion mass spectroscopy, respectively. The orientation of CIGS thin films on the SS substrates strongly depends on the texture of the (In,Ga)2Se3 precursor, determined by the substrate temperature at the first stage (Ts1) and the flux ratio of Se to (In + Ga). Among these factors, Ts1 is the prerequisite to achieve [300]‐oriented IGS layer, which will yield [200]‐oriented CIGS thin film in the later process. The results indicate that through the comparison of CIGS thin films on the Mo/SS substrates and on the Mo/ZnO/SS substrates and combined with simply calculation, Fe diffusing into the CIGS layer will hinder the growth of the CIGS grains along [112] orientation. The grazing‐incidence X‐ray diffraction results suggest that the surface of the [220]‐textured CIGS thin film on the SS substrate still has [220] predominance, whereas the surface texture of the [220]‐texture CIGS thin film on the Mo/soda‐lime glass substrate became [112] predominant, which is due to the different compensation ability between Fe and Na elements. Finally, the relations between the device parameters and the degrees of the preferred orientation of CIGS absorbers are investigated. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

show abstract

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

Preferred orientation of Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ thin film deposited on stainless steel substrate

Zhang

Wang

et al. 2012

Progress in Photovoltaics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Upon elevated deposition temperatures the Cd dopant atoms are prone to diffuse into the underlying Cu-poor absorber material . Although such diffusion processes are highly relevant, and steer the performance of solar cells, there is only sparse data available regarding the diffusion mechanism of dopants and impurities. ,− …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Theoretical Study on the Diffusion Mechanism of Cd in the Cu-Poor Phase of CuInSe₂ Solar Cell Material

et al. 2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We have employed first-principles static and molecular dynamics (MD) calculations with semilocal and screened-exchange hybrid density functionals to study the diffusion of Cd in bulk CuIn 5 Se 8 , a copper-poor ordered vacancy compound of CuInSe 2 . The diffusion mechanism and the underlying kinetics/energetics were investigated by combining ab initio metadynamics simulations and nudged elastic band (NEB) calculations. We found that the migration of Cd occurs via a kick-out of Cu atoms, assisted by the pristine vacancies that are constitutive of this compound, and follows a double-hump energy profile. The rate-limiting step has a barrier of about 1 eV at 0 K but reduces to 0.3 eV at 850 K, pointing out non-negligible dynamical effects. Hybrid functional calculations reveal that Cd impurities are doubly positively charged (Cd 2+ ) in ptype and intrinsic conditions. The position of the 0/2+ charge transition level explains why Cd impurities do not constitute deep traps for carriers, making them not harmful for the solar cell device.

show abstract

“…So far, it has been demonstrated that diffusion of Fe into the CIGS layer from steel substrates is negative for solar cell performance, [18,19] but the trace impurity in source material has not been given due weight. Besides, there lacks systematic study on different influences of Fe on CIGS with different bandgaps, since previous Fe-related work focused on normal band gap CIGS.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Traces of iron impurities in copper sources can be a poison to Cu(In, Ga)Se₂ solar cells

Gao

Liu

et al. 2021

Nano Select

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

It has been widely accepted that the diffusion of iron from stainless steel substrates has detrimental impact on Cu(In, Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cell performance. However, the effect of traces of iron impurities in copper sources can be neglected all the time. In this work, 99.97% purity copper which contains only 0.03% iron was used to fabricate CIGS devices. Compared to the copper of 99.99% purity, it has been showed that this 0.03% difference in purity can lead to a 70% efficiency improvement for CuGaSe2 (CGS), 35% efficiency improvement for normal band gap CIGS, and 29% efficiency improvement for narrow band gap CIGS. These results revealed that traces of iron impurities in copper sources can be a fatal poison to CIGS solar cells.

show abstract

Diffusion of iron into solar-grade CIGS layers from natural and radioactive front-side sources

Cited by 8 publications

References 9 publications

Preferred orientation of Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ thin film deposited on stainless steel substrate

Preferred orientation of Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ thin film deposited on stainless steel substrate

Theoretical Study on the Diffusion Mechanism of Cd in the Cu-Poor Phase of CuInSe₂ Solar Cell Material

Traces of iron impurities in copper sources can be a poison to Cu(In, Ga)Se₂ solar cells

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Diffusion of iron into solar-grade CIGS layers from natural and radioactive front-side sources

Cited by 8 publications

References 9 publications

Preferred orientation of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin film deposited on stainless steel substrate

Preferred orientation of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin film deposited on stainless steel substrate

Theoretical Study on the Diffusion Mechanism of Cd in the Cu-Poor Phase of CuInSe2 Solar Cell Material

Traces of iron impurities in copper sources can be a poison to Cu(In, Ga)Se2 solar cells

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Preferred orientation of Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ thin film deposited on stainless steel substrate

Preferred orientation of Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ thin film deposited on stainless steel substrate

Theoretical Study on the Diffusion Mechanism of Cd in the Cu-Poor Phase of CuInSe₂ Solar Cell Material

Traces of iron impurities in copper sources can be a poison to Cu(In, Ga)Se₂ solar cells