Electrodeposition of Indium on Copper for CIS and CIGS Solar Cell Applications
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Salvador Jaime; Kathleen B. Reuter; Lubomyr T. Romankiw; Qiang Huang; L. Deligianni; S. Amhed; V. Charrier; Pierre-Philippe Grand
- Source
- Journal of The Electrochemical Society. 158:D57
- Subject
- Materials science
Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
Alloy
Metallurgy
chemistry.chemical_element
engineering.material
Island growth
Condensed Matter Physics
Copper
Copper indium gallium selenide solar cells
Surfaces, Coatings and Films
Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
chemistry
Chemical engineering
Monolayer
Materials Chemistry
Electrochemistry
engineering
Layer (electronics)
Deposition (law)
Indium
- Language
- ISSN
- 0013-4651
The electrodeposition of indium on copper substrates is studied in an acid sulfate solution for applications in CuInS 2 (CIS) and Cu(InGa)Se 2 (CIGS) solar cells. The study is focused on the film morphology and thickness uniformity on the nanometer scale. A two-step film growth behavior was observed, a conformal smooth film growth followed by a three-dimensional island growth. A hypothesis involving the Cu-In alloy formation and the Cu-In interdiffusion is proposed. While the room temperature alloy formation promotes the conformal deposition of a few monolayers of alloy, the fast interdiffusion between Cu and In further extends this alloy formation to a thicker layer and delays the typical island formation-growth phenomenon.