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Analysis and Control of Plating Baths in the Electrodeposition of Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS) Films with Ion Chromatography

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2011

Alan Kleiman-Shwarsctein ,
Serdar Aksu ,
Tuncay Cetiner ,
Sarah Lastella  and
Mustafa Pinarbasi
Alan Kleiman-Shwarsctein
Affiliation:
SoloPower Inc. 5981 Optical Court, San Jose, CA 95138
Serdar Aksu
Affiliation:
SoloPower Inc. 5981 Optical Court, San Jose, CA 95138
Tuncay Cetiner
Affiliation:
SoloPower Inc. 5981 Optical Court, San Jose, CA 95138
Sarah Lastella
Affiliation:
SoloPower Inc. 5981 Optical Court, San Jose, CA 95138
Mustafa Pinarbasi
Affiliation:
SoloPower Inc. 5981 Optical Court, San Jose, CA 95138
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Abstract

Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) is one of the most advanced absorber materials with conversion efficiencies reaching up to about 20%. Electrodeposition of CIGS precursors is highly attractive due to its low cost, efficient utilization of raw materials and scalability to high-volume manufacturing, however, a strict chemistry control of the plating baths is required in a manufacturing environment to ensure a consistent plating process with high yields. In the present study, we tested the use of ion chromatography (IC), for the quantitative analysis of both the cationic and anionic species in a variety of aqueous alkaline electroplating solutions we developed for the fabrication of CIGS precursors. Using ion chromatography we were able to precisely determine the concentrations of several key anions commonly employed in the plating baths including chloride, sulfate, selenite, selenate, tartrate, citrate, gluconate, and ethylenediaminetetraacetate. Our results indicated IC might not be a suitable method to determine the cationic concentrations for Cu, In, Ga ions when complexing species, such as ethylenediaminetetraacetate, are present in the electroplating solutions. We determined that inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) could be used instead for the precise determination of the cationic concentrations.

Keywords

electrodepositionphotovoltaicthin film
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1323: Symposium C – Advanced Materials Processing for Scalable Solar-Cell Manufacturing , 2011 , mrss11-1323-c02-05
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2011

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References

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