Crystalline Engineering Toward Large-Scale High-Efficiency Printable Cu(In,Ga)Se-2 Thin Film Solar Cells on Flexible Substrate by Femtosecond Laser Annealing Process

Abstract

Ink-printing method emerges as a viable way for manufacturing large-scale flexible Cu(In,Ga)Se-2 (CIGS) thin film photovoltaic (TFPV) devices owing to its potential for the rapid process, mass production, and low-cost nonvacuum device fabrication. Here, we brought the femtosecond laser annealing (fs-LA) process into the ink-printing CIGS thin film preparation. The effects of fs-LA treatment on the structural and optoelectronic properties of the ink-printing CIGS thin films were systematically investigated. It was observed that, while the film surface morphology remained essentially unchanged under superheating, the quality of crystallinity was significantly enhanced after the fs-LA treatment. Moreover, a better stoichiometric composition was achieved with an optimized laser scanning rate of the laser beam, presumably due to the much reduced indium segregation phenomena, which is believed to be beneficial in decreasing the defect states of In-se, V-Se, and In-cu. Consequently, the shunt leakage current and recombination centers were enhancement in photovoltaic conversion efficiency. both greatly decreased, resulting in a near 20%