Design and optimisation of process parameters in an in-line CIGS evaporation pilot system

Wei, Zhengfei; Bobbili, Prabhakara Rao; Senthilarasu, S.; Shimell, Terry; Upadhyaya, Hari M.

Abstract

Substantial efforts have been made globally towards improving Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin film solar cell efficiencies with several organisations successfully exceeding the 20% barrier on a research level using the three-stage CIGS process, but commercial mass production of the three-stage process has been limited due to the technological difficulties of scaling-up. An attempt has been made to identify these issues by designing and manufacturing an in-line pilot production deposition system for the three-stage CIGS process which is capable of processing 30 cm × 30 cm modules. The optimisation of the process parameters such as source and substrate temperature, deposition uniformity, flux of copper, indium, gallium and selenium and thickness control has been presented in this investigation. A simplistic thickness distribution model of the evaporated films was developed to predict and validate the designed deposition process, which delivers a comparable simulation compared with the experimental data. These experiments also focused on the optimisation of the temperature uniformity across 30 cm × 30 cm area using a specially designed graphite heating system, which is crucial to form the correct α-phase CIGS in the desired time period. A three-dimensional heat transfer model using COMSOL Multiphysics 4.2a software has been developed and validated with the help of experimental data.

Citation

Wei, Z., Bobbili, P. R., Senthilarasu, S., Shimell, T., & Upadhyaya, H. M. (2014). Design and optimisation of process parameters in an in-line CIGS evaporation pilot system. Surface and Coatings Technology, 241, 159-167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfcoat.2013.10.033

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Oct 28, 2013
• Publication Date: Feb 25, 2014
• Deposit Date: Mar 13, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 15, 2023
• Print ISSN: 0257-8972
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 241
• Pages: 159-167
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfcoat.2013.10.033
• Keywords: CIGS solar cells, Up-scaling, Uniformity, Evaporation, Thickness, Heat transfer