Pulsed Laser Deposition ZnS Buffer Layers for CIGS Solar Cells

Abstract

Polycrystalline ZnS films were prepared by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) on quartz glass substrates under different growth conditions at different substrate temperatures of 20, 200, 400, and 600 C, which is a suitable alternative to chemical bath deposited (CBD) CdS as a buffer layer in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells. X-ray diffraction studies indicate the films are polycrystalline with zinc-blende structure and they exhibit preferential orientation along the cubic phase -ZnS (111) direction, which conflicts with the conclusion of wurtzite structure by Murali that the ZnS films deposited by pulse plating technique was polycrystalline with wurtzite structure. The Raman spectra of grown films show A1 mode at approximately 350 cm1, generally observed in the cubic phase -ZnS compounds. The planar and the cross-sectional morphology were observed by scanning electron microscopic. The dense, smooth, uniform grains are formed on the quartz glass substrates through PLD technique. The grain size of ZnS deposited by PLD is much smaller than that of CdS by conventional CBD method, which is analyzed as the main reason of detrimental cell performance. The composition of the ZnS films was also measured by X-ray fluorescence. The typical ZnS films obtained in this work are near stoichiometric and only a small amount of S-rich. The energy band gaps at different temperatures were obtained by absorption spectroscopy measurement, which increases from 3.2 eV to 3.7 eV with the increasing of the deposition temperature. ZnS has a wider energy band gap than CdS (2.4 eV), which can enhance the blue response of the photovoltaic cells. These results show the high-quality of these substitute buffer layer materials are prepared through an all-dry technology, which can be used in the manufacture of CIGS thin film solar cells.