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Development of Plasma-Assisted Processing for Selenization and Sulfurization of Absorber Layers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

S. Kosaraju ,
I. Repins  and
C. A. Wolden
S. Kosaraju
Affiliation:
Chemical Engineering Department, Colorado School of Mines, 1500 Illinois Street, Golden, CO 80401
I. Repins
Affiliation:
ITN Energy Systems, 8130 Shaffer Parkway, Littleton, CO 80127
C. A. Wolden
Affiliation:
Chemical Engineering Department, Colorado School of Mines, 1500 Illinois Street, Golden, CO 80401
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Abstract

In the synthesis of copper chalcopyrite solar absorbers the chalcogen source is always supplied in excess due to its low reactivity. This paper describes preliminary work aimed at addressing this issue through plasma processing. An inductively coupled plasma (ICP) was use to activate both sulfur and selenium vapors. First, the thermodynamic arguments for using activated chalcogens are presented. Next, this paper describes the experimental ICP setup and its characterization using optical emission spectroscopy (OES). Stable discharges have been achieved with both sulfur and selenium vapors using argon as a carrier gas. The potential of this approach was demonstrated by converting indium films into In2Se3 and InSx. The indium samples were inserted into chalcogen-containing ICP plasmas. Through X-ray diffraction it was observed that chalcogen conversion was achieved in a matter of minutes at room temperature by plasma processing.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 763: Symposium B – Compound Semiconductor Photovoltaics , 2003 , B8.19
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2003

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