Fabrication of Cu(In, Ga)Se₂thin films by sputtering from a single quaternary chalcogenide target

Abstract Single‐layered Cu‐In‐Ga‐Se precursors were fabricated by one‐step sputtering of a single quaternary Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 (CIGS) chalcogenide target at room temperature, followed by post selenization using Se vapor obtained from elemental Se pellets. The morphological and structural properties of both as‐deposited and selenized films were characterized by X‐ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscope and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The precursor films exhibited a chalcopyrite structure with a preferential orientation in the (112) direction. The post‐selenization process at high‐temperature significantly improved the quality of the chalcopyrite CIGS. The CIGS layers after post‐selenization were used to fabricate solar cells. The solar cell had an open‐circuit voltage Voc of 0.422 V, a short‐circuit current density J = 24.75 mA, a fill factor of 53.29%, and an efficiency of 7.95%. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.