Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
1689223 | Vacuum | 2016 | 10 Pages |
Abstract
To create an intermediate layer in CuInSe2(CIS)-based solar cells, an intrinsic zinc oxide(i-ZnO) thin film was deposited on a glass substrate and a cadmium sulfide(CdS) buffer layer using an in-line pulsed-DC sputtering. In comparison with i-ZnO films sputtered using RF power, i-ZnO films sputtered using pulsed-DC power showed much higher deposition rates and similar structural characteristics, without causing any damage to the CdS buffer layer. During pulsed-DC sputtering, the O2/Ar gas ratio, reverse time, and pulse frequency were changed to optimize the process parameters. From the transmittance and scanning electron microscope(SEM) images, the optimized i-ZnO film was obtained at an O2/Ar gas ratio of 1%, a pulsed frequency of 200 kHz, and a reverse time of 1.3 μs. For showing the feasibility, it was applied to the fabrication of a CIS solar cell which was processed using the two step method by the rapid thermal processing (RTP) annealing of Cu-In stacked layers. It showed a possibility of the pulsed-DC sputtered ZnO as an intermediate layer of a CIS solar cell even though a cell efficiency was shown with a low value of 2.2% due to an early stage of our study in the two step CIS process.
Keywords
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Materials Science
Surfaces, Coatings and Films
Authors
Yeon Joo Lee, Eou-Sik Cho, Sang Jik Kwon,