Surface order and stoichiometry of sputter-cleaned and annealed CuInSe2

Abstract

CuInSe2 surfaces can be cleaned by bombardment with Ar ions at glancing incidence and with energies up to 1.5 keV without change in composition. At near-normal incidence a slight depletion of Cu is observed. The surface crystallinity can be partially restored by annealing to ∼550 °C, without preferential evaporation of an element. On Ar+-cleaned and annealed surfaces, single-crystal low-energy electron diffraction patterns of CuInSe2 have been produced for the first time.