Effect of Se flux on CuGaSe₂ absorbers deposited on ITO-coated SLG substrates by using a three-stage co-evaporation process

As the key factor for top-cell application in a tandem structure, wide-bandgap chalcopyrite CuGaSe₂ (CGS) absorbers were deposited at a thickness of 2 μm on soda-lime glass (SLG) which was coated with radio-frequency sputtered indium-tin-oxide (ITO) films. The semi-transparent CGS absorbers with a bandgap energy of 1.65 eV were grown by using a three-stage co-evaporation process with Cu, Ga, and Se elemental sources. During CGS absorber growth, the composition ratio [Cu]/[Ga] was fixed at about 0.85 and the Se-to-Ga flux ratio P_[Se]/[Ga] was varied from 22 to 61 by increasing the temperature of the Se source. In this study, the compositional, structural, optical and electrical properties of top-cell CGS absorbers, which absorbed the short wavelength range of the solar spectrums for tandem solar cell application, were investigated as a function of the Se flux. On the basis of our experimental results, the highest CGS solar cell efficiency of 4.7 % in the cell structure described as Al/ZnO:Al/i-ZnO/CdS/CGS/ITO/SLG was demonstrated using a P_[Se]/[Ga] value of 22.