Effect of Annealing on the Structural and Optical Properties of CuIn_1–xAl_xS₂ thin Films

Fethi Smaili

.

DOI: 10.4236/msa.2011.29164                

Abstract

The effects of annealing of CuIn_1–xAl_xS₂thin films for different temperature, which were grown by thermal evaporation, were investigated through X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS) and optical absorption measurements. Post growth was used to modify the structural and optical properties of the CIAS thin films. Then it realized in three different temperatures 250, 300 and 400℃. It is found that significant difference of the transparent films in function of annealing temperature. The FWHM in the X-ray diffraction pattern is found to decrease with an increase in annealing temperature indicating that the crystalline nature of the CIAS improves with increase in annealing temperature. The position of the (112) peak and other peaks in the X-ray diffraction pattern has been observed to shift to higher values of 2θ with the increase of gallium concentration. We demonstrate a significant enhancement of the interdiffusion in the dot thin film.

Keywords

CuIn_1–xAl_xS₂ , Annealing, Structural Properties, Optical Properties

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	M. Venkatachalam, M. D. Kannan, S. Jayakumar, R. Balasun-daraprabhu and N. Muthukumarasamy, “Effect of Annealing on the Structural Properties of Electron Beam Deposited CIGS Thin Films,” Thin Solid Films, Vol. 516, No. 20, 2008, pp. 6848-6852. doi:10.1016/j.tsf.2007.12.127
[2]	K. Ramanathan, G. Teeter, J. C. Keane and R. Noufi, “High Performance CIGS Thin Film Solar Cells: A Laboratory Pers-pective,” 2005 DOE Solar Energy Technologies Program Re-view Meeting, Denver, 7-10 November 2005.doi:10.1016/j.tsf.2004.11.050
[3]	J. L. Shay, B. Tell, H. M. Kasper and M. Schiavone, “p-d Hy-bridization of the Valence Bands of I-III-VI2 Compounds,” Physical Review B, Vol. 5, No. 12, 1972, pp. 5003-5005. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.5.5003
[4]	M. W. Haimbodi, E. Gourmelon, P. D. Paulson, R. W. Birkmire and W. N. Shafarman, “Cu(InAl)Se2 Thin Films and Devices Deposited by Multisource Evaporation [Solar Cells],” Proceedings of the 28th IEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, Anchorage, Alaska, 2000, p. 454.
[5]	T. J. Coutts, K. A. Emery and J. S. Ward, “Modeled Perfor-mance of Polycrystalline Thin-Film Tandem Solar Cells,” Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 10, No. 3, 2002, pp. 195-203.
[6]	A. J. De Vos, “Detailed Balance Limit of the Efficiency of Tandem Solar Cells,” Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, Vol. 13, No. 5, 1980, pp. 839-846.
[7]	M. S. Branch, P. R. Berndt, J. R. Botha, A. W. R. Leitch and J. Weber, “Structure and morphology of CuGaS2 thin films,” Thin Solid Films, Vol. 431-432, 2003, pp. 94-98.
[8]	S. Marsillac, P. D. Paulson, M. W. Haimbodi, R. W. Birkmire and W. N. Shafarman, “Transparent Oxide Optoelectronics,” Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 81, No. 7, 2002, p. 1350. doi:10.1063/1.1499990
[9]	Y. B. K. Reddy, V. S. Raja and B. Sreedhar, “Growth and Characterization of CuIn1?xAlxSe2 Thin Films Deposited by Co-evaporation,” Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, Vol. 39, No. 24, 2006, p. 5124. doi:10.1088/0022-3727/39/24/005
[10]	B. Munir, R. A. Wibowo, E. S. Lee and K. H. Kim, “One Step Deposition of Cu(In1?xAlx)Se2 Thin Films by RF Magnetron Sputtering,” Journal of Ceramic Processing Research, Vol. 8, No. 4, 2007, p. 252.
[11]	B. Kavitha and M. Dhanam, “In and Al Composition in Na-no-Cu(InAl)Se2 Thin Films from XRD and Transmittance Spectra,” Materials Science and Engineering B, Vol. 140, No. 1-2, 2007, pp. 59-63. doi:10.1016/j.mseb.2007.03.011
[12]	F. Itoh, O. Saitoh, M. Kita, H. Nagamori and H. Oike, “Growth and Characterization of Cu(InA1)Se2 by Vacuum Evaporation,” Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells- Solar Energy, Vol. 50, No. 1-4, 1998, pp. 119-125. doi:10.1016/S0927-0248(97)00132-3
[13]	E. Halgand, J. C. Bernède, S. Marsillac and J. Kessler, “Physi-co-chemical Characterisation of Cu(In,Al)Se2 Thin Film for Solar Cells Obtained by a Selenisation Process,” Thin Solid Films, Vol. 480-481, 2005, pp. 443446. doi:10.1016/j.tsf.2004.11.039
[14]	S. Jost, F. Hergert, R. Hock, M. Purwins and R. Enderle, “Real-Time Investigations of Selenization Reactions in the System Cu-In-Al-Se,” Physica Status Solidi A, Vol. 203, No. 11, 2006, pp. 2581-2587.
[15]	R. Brini, M. Kanzari, B. Rezig and J. Werckmann, “Effect of Annealing on Properties of CuInS2 Thin Films,” European Physical Journal—Applied Physics, Vol. 30, No. 3, 2005, pp. 153-158. doi:10.1051/epjap:2005031
[16]	F. Chaffar Akkari, R. Brini, M. Kanzari and B. Rezig, “High Absorbing CuInS2 Thin Films Growing by Oblique Angle In-cidence Deposition in Presence of Thermal Gradient,” Journal of Materials Science, Vol. 40, 2005, pp. 1-5.
[17]	J. Tauc, “Optical Properties of Solids,” North-Holland, Publ., Amsterdam, 1973, p. 277.
[18]	M. Ben Rabeh, M. Zribi, M. Kanzari and B. Rezig, “Structural and Optical Characterization of Sn Incorporation in CuInS2 Thin Films Grown by Vacuum Evaporation Method,” Materials Letters, Vol. 59, No. 24-25, 2005, pp. 3164-3168. doi:10.1016/j.matlet.2005.05.045
[19]	H. P. Klug and L. E. Alexander, “X-Ray Diffraction Procedure for Polycrystalline and Amorphous Materials,” Wiley, New York, 1974.
[20]	D. E. Milovzorov, A. M. Ali, T. Inokuma, Y. Kurata, T. Suzuki and S. Hasegawa, “Optical Properties of Silicon Nanocrystallites in Polycrystalline Silicon Films Prepared at Low Temperature by Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition,” Thin Solid Films, Vol. 382, No. 1-2, 2001, pp. 47-55. doi:10.1016/S0040-6090(00)01208-6
[21]	T. M. Wang, S. K. Zheng, W. C. Hao and C. Wang, “Studies on Photocatalytic Activity and Transmittance Spectra of TiO2 Thin Films Prepared by r.f. Magnetron Sputtering Method,” Surface and Coatings Technology, Vol. 155, No. 2-3, 2002, pp. 141-145.
[22]	V. V. Kindyak, V. F. Gremenonok, I. V. Bodnar, V. Rud Yu and G. A. Madvedkin, “Optical Properties of Laser-Evaporated CuGaSe2 Films near and above the Fundamental Absorption Edge,” Thin Solid Films, Vol. 250, No. 1-2, 1994, pp. 33-36. doi:10.1016/0040-6090(94)90160-0