The influence of Na on low temperature growth of CIGS thin film solar cells on polyimide substrates

The objective of this work is to study the influence of Na on the properties of Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) absorber layers and finished solar cell devices on polyimide substrates. For this study Na is added to 3-stage grown CIGS thin films by evaporation of a NaF precursor layer prior to the absorber deposition. The precursor layer modifies the CIGS growth kinetics. A stronger Ga-gradient and a decrease of grain size are observed when the Na content increases. An increase in V_oc for a higher Na concentration at a nominal growth temperature of T_sub,max = 500 °C during CIGS deposition is explained by a higher carrier density, as obtained by DLCP measurements. The higher carrier concentration for the higher Na content could be attributed to the reduction of a compensating donor. However, a low J_sc does not allow for an enhanced efficiency possibly due to a shorter depletion region, as observed by admittance spectroscopy, and effective diffusion length.