Investigations on the mechanical properties of the elementary thin films composing a CuIn1 - xGaxSe2 solar cell using the nanoindentation technique

THIN SOLID FILMS

卷:633

Article; Proceedings Paper

Abib, Hocine Yacine^1,2  Iost, Alain³  Montagne, Alex³  Rahmoun, Khadidja¹  Ayachi, Boubakeur²  Vilcot, Jean-Pierre² 

[1] Univ Tlemcen Abou Bakr Belkaid, URMER, BP 119, Tilimsen 13000, Algeria

[2] IEMN, UMR 8520, Ave Poincare,CS 60069, F-59652 Villeneuve Dascq, France

[3] Arts & Metiers Paris Tech, MSMP, Lille Campus,8,Blvd Louis 14, F-59046 Lille, France

关键词: Copper indium gallium selenide;    Solar cells;    Mechanical properties;    Hardness;    Young's modulus;    Nanoindentation;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.tsf.2016.11.013

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

In this investigation, the mechanical properties of the different layers composing a CuIn1 - xGaxSe2 (CIGS) based solar cell were studied. Magnetron sputtering technique was used for the deposition of these layers except for the cadmium sulphide (CdS) layer which was deposited using chemical bath deposition process. We performed several indentation tests on the individual layers, i.e. molybdenum (Mo) back contact layer, CIGS absorber layer, CdS and alternative zinc sulphide oxide (ZnOS) buffer layers, and zinc oxide (ZnO)-AZO (aluminium-doped zinc oxide) transparent window layer; all were deposited on glass substrates. We report the values of the hardness (H) and of the Young's modulus (E) for each material, using indentation tests and an analytical model. The Mo layer remained the hardest and the most rigid, with H = 8.7 GPa and E = 185 GPa, while the CIGS layer has shown poor mechanical properties with H = 3 GPa and E = 58 GPa. On the other hand, the observed similarity in mechanical properties of the ZnO and ZnOS layers might be attributed to the similarity of their microstructures. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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