Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 February 2011
We have recently been successful utilizing two methods which are new to the study of CIGS thin film samples: drive-level capacitance profiling, and transient photocapacitance spectroscopy. In this paper we review several of the key results that we have obtained by applying these methods to the study of the CIGS alloys over the past 2 years. This has resulted not only in new information concerning the deep defects and their spatial distributions in these materials, but also to more accurate determinations of free carrier densities, and of minority carrier trapping dynamics within the junction region. Light-induced metastable changes in the deep defect properties of these alloys are also documented through the use of these techniques.