STRUCTURAL AND MORPHOLOGY STUDIES OF Cu-In-Se (CIS) THIN FILMS BY SCREEN-PRINTING AND SINTERING METHOD

Abstract

CuInSe (CIS) thin films are the best candidate as absorber material for solar cell application and successfully produced by screen-printing and sintering method. Screen printing and sintering of CIS layers is a low cost technique for obtaining homogeneous layers on a large scale. Pure Cu, In and Se powders were mixed and ground with ethyl alcohol to a grain size of 1.5 μm. CuInSe2 paste was screen-printed on FTO glass substrate and sintered at 350 oC for 60 min. The pastes were tested by X-ray diffractometer (XRD) for crystallinity, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) for grain size and thickness, and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX) for CuInSe2 paste composition. The results indicated that there is non-homogenous agglomeration and random surface texture in SEM images. The grain size of the samples is in average around 10 – 15 µm meanwhile the thickness measured is around 23 – 60 µm. From EDX analysis, there is higher amount of copper indicating the building of a secondary phase at the surface. XRD analysis revealed the high diffraction of CIS peaks are at 2 Theta of 44.3 and 26.6 correspond to the (2 2 0) / (2 2 4) and (1 1 2).