Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) thin film photovoltaic absorber layers are primarily synthesized by vacuum based techniques at industrial scale. In this work, we investigate non-vacuum film synthesis by electrochemical deposition coupled with pulsed laser annealing (PLA) and or continuous wave laser annealing (CWLA) using 1064 nm laser. PLA results indicate that at high fluence (≥100 mJ/cm²) CuInSe₂ films melt and dewet on both Mo and Cu substrates. In the submelt PLA regime (≤70 mJ/cm²) no change in XRD results is recorded. However CWLA at 50 W/cm² for up to 45 s does not result in melting or dewetting of the film. XRD and Raman data indicate more than 80% reduction in full width at half maximum (FWHM) in their respective main peaks for annealing time of 15 s or more. No other secondary phases are observed in XRD or Raman spectrum. These results might help us in setting up the foundation for processing CIGS through an entirely non-vacuum process.

Date Published: 12 October 2012
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 8473, Laser Material Processing for Solar Energy, 84730F (12 October 2012); doi: 10.1117/12.930147

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8473:
Laser Material Processing for Solar Energy
Edward W. Reutzel, Editor(s)