Effect of sodium doping on graded Cu(In1−xGax)Se2 thin films prepared by chemical spray pyrolysis

In the present work we have studied the effect of Na on the properties of graded Cu(In1−xGax)Se2 (CIGS) layer. Graded CIGS structures were prepared by chemical spray pyrolysis at a substrate temperature of 350 °C on soda lime glass. Sodium chloride is used as a dopant along with metal (Cu/In/Ga) chlorides and n, n-dimethyl selenourea precursors. The addition of Na exhibited better crystallinity with chalcopyrite phase and an improvement in preferential orientation along the (112) plane. Energy dispersive analysis of X-rays (line/point mapping) revealed a graded nature of the film and percentage incorporation of Na (0.86 at%). Raman studies showed that the film without sodium doping consists of mixed phase of chalcopyrite and CuAu ordering. Influence of sodium showed a remarkable decrease in electrical resistivity (0.49–0.087 Ω cm) as well as an increase in carrier concentration (3.0×1018–2.5×1019 cm−3) compared to the un-doped films. As carrier concentration increased after sodium doping, the band gap shifted from 1.32 eV to 1.20 eV. Activation energies for un-doped and Na doped films from modified Arrhenius plot were calculated to be 0.49 eV and 0.20 eV, respectively. Extremely short carrier lifetimes in the CIGS thin films were measured by a novel, non-destructive, noncontact method (transmission modulated photoconductive decay). Minority carrier lifetimes of graded CIGS layers without and with external Na doping are found to be 3.0 and 5.6 ns, respectively.