Effect of Annealing Process Pressure Over Atmospheric Pressure on Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 Thin Film Growth

Abstract

Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4(CZTSSe) thin film solar cells areone of the most promising candidates for photovoltaic devices due to their earth-abundant composition, high absorption coefficient and appropriate band gap. The sputtering process is the main challenge to achieving high efficiency of CZTSSe solar cells for industrialization. In this study, we fabricated CZTSSe absorbers on Mo coated soda lime glass using different pressures during the annealing process. As an environmental strategy, the annealing process is performed with S and Se powder, without any toxic H2Se and/or H2S gases. Because CZTSSe thin films have a very narrow stable phase region, it is important to control the condition of the annealing process to achieve high efficiency of the solar cell. To identify the effect of process pressure during the sulfo-selenization, we experiment with varying initial pressure from 600 Torr to 800 Torr. We fabricate a CZTSSe thin film solar cell with 8.24 % efficiency, with 435 mV for open circuit voltage(VOC) and 36.98 mA/cm2 for short circuit current density(JSC), under a highest process pressure of 800 Torr.