A comparative study of laser
induced breakdown spectroscopy and secondary ion mass spectrometry applied to dc magnetron
sputtered as-grown copper indium diselenide.

Astin, JS; Cowpe, JS; Hill, A; Hisek, J; Lucas, N; Pilkington, RD

Abstract

The University of Salford has led the way in the fundamental research that has
underpinned the development of thin film copper indium diselenide (CIS) based
photovoltaics. These devices have demonstrated exceptional energy conversion
efficiencies (>19%) and a high tolerance to radiation damage and are thus leading
researchers towards the 20% efficiency barrier. Conventional CIS thin film growth
processes require a post-selenisation step to incorporate Se into the as-grown
material. This helps to achieve stoichometry, improves the crystallinity, controls the
defect structure and also can be used to convert the semiconductor type. This paper
will report the use of pulsed dc magnetron sputtering from a CIS powder target. This
approach has resulted in as–grown stoichiometric thin films consisting of pinhole free,
densely packed grains. An important consideration in the thin film growth of complex
materials is that stoichiometry is maintained throughout the film. Conventionally,
secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) is used to depth profile thin films but it has
been reported that laser induced breakdown spectrometry (LIBS) can also be used.
We will report the initial results comparing and contrasting these two techniques and
show that LIBS can produce meaningful data.

Citation

Astin, J., Cowpe, J., Hill, A., Hisek, J., Lucas, N., & Pilkington, R. (2006, September). sputtered as-grown copper indium diselenide. Presented at Photon '06, University of Manchester UK

• Presentation Conference Type: Other
• Conference Name: Photon '06
• Conference Location: University of Manchester UK
• Start Date: Sep 4, 2006
• End Date: Sep 7, 2006
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2006
• Deposit Date: Nov 27, 2009
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 27, 2009
• Keywords: LIBS, CIS, depth profiling, SIMS, copper indium diselenide, photovoltaic
• Additional Information: Event Type : Conference