Quantitative investigation of copper/indium multilayer thin film reactions

Structural analysis of In/Ag, In/Cu and In/Pd thin films on tungsten by ellipsometric, XRD and AES methods

“…From this fact a stronger soldered bond in the In/Ag system is predicted, able to withstand higher temperatures (about 750 C) for a more concentrated silver diffusant in the joint. When an In film is evaporated onto a Cu substrate, Cu atoms diffuse along grain boundaries into In layer and produce intermetallic compounds such as CuIn 2 , Cu 7 In 3 , Cu 2 In, CuIn, Cu 9 In 7 , and Cu 11 In 9 [14,15]. Yu et al [15] reported that some intermetallic compounds were formed immediately after deposition of Cu and In thin films and the growth of intermetallic phase layer follows a parabolic relationship.…”

Non-destructive characterization of In/Ag and In/Cu diffusive layers

“…Refs. [9,14,[33][34][35][36]). We have found formation of the CuIn and CuIn 2 intermetallics or nonstiochiometric CuIn 2−x compounds [34,36] in all the investigated In/Cu multilayer structures.…”

“…The In/Ag and In/Cu systems nicely exemplify the above-mentioned characterictics because metals from group IB (Ag, Cu) and group IIIA (In) diffuse easily each other and form different type intermetallic phases depending on the temperature and relative atomic composition of the films. Moreover, formation of indium alloys with silver and copper via solid-liquid interdiffusion is also used for creating of the precursor films for selenization process in fabrication of highly efficient photovoltaic solar cells based on copper indium diselenide (CuInSe 2 ) [9] and silver indium diselenide (AgInSe 2 ) [10]. A major problem in fabrication of the In-Ag and In-Cu joints and precursors for solar absorbers is to obtain homogeneous alloy films with a smooth interface.…”

“…The interdiffusion in Ag/In and Cu/In thin-film and bulk samples was studied in several laboratories (see Refs. [7,9,[11][12][13][14][15][16]). Properties of thin films are strongly influenced by grain size, texture and interface morphology.…”

Real-time studies of phase transformations in Cu–In–Se–S thin films

“…In their work, the transformation Cu 11 In 9 -Z-Cu 16 In 9 taking place at the peritectic temperature was observed in accordance with the phase diagram. Real-time experiments using differential scanning calorimetry [10], on the contrary, were interpreted in terms of melting of Cu 11 In 9 at the peritectic point. Contradictory reaction mechanisms are proposed as well, for instance, for the transition CuIn 2 to Cu 11 In 9 which in principle can proceed via Cu diffusion into [10,11] or In diffusion out of CuIn 2 .…”