Single-step growth of high quality CIGS/CdS heterojunctions using Pulsed Laser Deposition

Abstract

This work reports on the utilization of pulsed laser deposition (PLD) for the preparation of CdS thin films and CdS/Cu(In,Ga)Se2 heterojunction structures on soda-lime glass (SLG) and Mo-coated SLG substrates, respectively, under various process conditions. Single phase, stoichiometric and high optical quality CdS films are obtained at a fluence of 1.1 J/cm2 and at deposition temperatures of 200–400 °C. The results of this investigation were used to grow CdS on Cu(In,Ga)Se2/Mo/SLG. Both Cu(In,Ga)Se2 and CdS layers have been deposited sequentially using PLD without interrupting the deposition process. The influence of CdS deposition temperature on the properties of CdS/Cu(In,Ga)Se2 heterojunction has been extensively studied and is reported herein for the first time. Low series and high shunt resistances are obtained for the samples where CdS was grown at 200 and 300 °C. The CdS/Cu(In,Ga)Se2 diode grown at CdS deposition temperature of 300 °C exhibits the lowest ideality factor and leakage current, indicating the better quality of the diode. The results of this work demonstrate that high-quality CdS/Cu(In,Ga)Se2 diodes are obtained using pulsed laser deposition in a single-step growth process, eliminating the need for selenization of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 and the use of other growth techniques such as chemical bath deposition for CdS.