Nanostructured thermally evaporated CuInSe2 thin films synthesized from mechanically alloyed powders and self-combustion ingot

CuInSe2 was fabricated via mechanical milling of Cu, In, Se and self-propagating high temperature synthesis (SHS). The latter materials were thermally evaporated to obtain nanostructured thin films. The ball milled powders are obtained using a rotational disk speed of 300 rpm and a milling time of 15 and 30 min. On the other hand, the SHS process was carried out on the mixed cold pressed powder of Cu, In and Se, owing to a graphite plate heated by a high intensity electrical current. The investigated materials were analyzed by X-ray diffraction. They exhibited a chalcopyrite like-structure. Rietveld method combined with Fourier analysis using Maud program was exploited to fit X-ray diffraction data. The chemical bounding is studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). SEM analysis revealed that the obtained thin films were nanostructured.