February 2005

NREL/CP-520-37404

Properties of High-Efficiency
CIGS Thin-Film Solar Cells

K. Ramanathan, J. Keane, and R. Noufi

Prepared for the 31st IEEE Photovoltaics Specialists
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January 3-7, 2005

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PROPERTIES OF HIGH-EFFICIENCY CIGS THIN-FILM SOLAR CELLS

Kannan Ramanathan, James Keane, and Rommel Noufi
National Center for Photovoltaics, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 1617 Cole Boulevard, Golden CO 80401

single, conductive ZnO layer. Finally, we present the

properties of solar cells fabricated on thin absorbers.

ABSTRACT
We present experimental results in three areas. Solar
cells with an efficiency of 19% have been fabricated with
an absorber bandgap in the range of 1.1-1.2 eV. Properties of solar cells fabricated with and without an undoped
ZnO layer were compared. The data show that high efficiency cells can be fabricated without using the highresisitivity or undoped ZnO layer. Properties of CIGS solar
cells were fabricated from thin absorbers (1 m) deposited
by the three-stage process and simultaneous codeposition of all the elements. In both cases, solar cells
with efficiencies of 16%-17% are obtained.

EXPERIMENTAL
CIGS absorbers were grown on soda-lime glass substrates with a sputter-deposited Mo layer. The absorber is
grown by first depositing an (InGa)2Se3 layer and reacting
it with Cu and Se. Compositional control was achieved by
detecting the temperature change of the substrate during
Cu-poor to Cu-rich transition at the end of the second
stage. The third stage consists of the evaporation of In
and Ga in the presence of Se. Thinner CIGS absorbers
were deposited by reducing the (In,Ga)2Se3 film thickness
and making appropriate modifications to the process. Thin
absorbers were also prepared by simultaneous deposition
of all the elements in one step. CdS deposition was performed using a solution consisting of 0.0015M CdSO4,
1.5M NH4OH, and 0.0075M thiourea. The samples were
immersed in the bath at room temperature and the temperature of the bath was increased to 60C. CdS thin films
in the thickness range of 50-60 nm were deposited in 16
min. The ZnO layer was deposited in two stages. A 90nm-thick, undoped layer was first deposited from a pure
ZnO target using Ar/O2 working gas, and a second layer of
about 120 nm was deposited from an Al2O3 doped ZnO
target. The sheet resistance of the bilayer was about 6570 /sq. Ni/Al grids were deposited by electron beam
evaporation. A 100-nm thick MgF2 film was deposited to
serve as an antireflection coating. Current-voltage characteristics of the devices were measured under AM1.5
Global spectrum for 1000 W/m2 irradiance.

INTRODUCTION
CuInGaSe2 (CIGS) polycrystalline thin film photovoltaic cells are a realistic option for reaching the goal of
low-cost, high efficiency power conversion from renewable
energy sources. Several research groups have reported a
steady increase in the efficiency of laboratory devices [13]. Similar progress has been reported in the manufacturing arena, where the efficiency of champion modules has
exceeded 13% and the yield is above 80% [4]. However,
there is a large gap between the efficiency of laboratory
cells and commercial modules. This can be narrowed by a
concerted effort at the fundamental science of thin film
materials and interfaces. Historically, the community has
concentrated its efforts on the fabrication and physical
properties of the materials themselves and much less on
the electronic processes that occur at the interfaces. More
attention to this area can lead to a simplification of device
structure, and improve the stability and yield of the products. At NREL, we have systematically improved the efficiency of the CIGS solar cells fabricated by the threestage process. Although the deposition method is somewhat difficult to implement in manufacturing, it offers advantages in control of morphology, defects, orientation,
bandgap grading, and stoichiometry control. The most
efficient CIGS thin film solar cells have been fabricated by
the three-stage process. It is now possible to compare the
properties of the three-stage devices with those fabricated
by other methods and identify areas for improvement.
In this report, we summarize the properties of high efficiency cells fabricated by varying the Ga content of the
absorber. Improvement in our understanding of the
growth process has resulted in our ability to fabricate solar
cells with efficiencies of 18%-19% in the bandgap range of
1.1-1.2 eV. Next, we provide a comparison of the properties of solar cells fabricated using a bilayer ZnO and a

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

High Efficiency Solar Cells
CIGS absorbers with a range of energy gaps were
fabricated by adjusting the Ga content of the (In,Ga)2Se3
precursor layer. Compositional depth profiles show that
the bandgap is graded through the depth of the film. The
energy gap was evaluated from spectral response measurements, and the Ga/(In+Ga) ratio was derived from the
electron microprobe data obtained using 10-kV beam energy. This is indicative of the average composition in a
sample volume of approximately 1 m. The energy gap
ranged from 1.1 to 1.21 eV, and the corresponding
Ga/(In+Ga) ratios ranged from 0.26 to 0.31. Table 1
shows a summary of the properties of solar cells characterized under standard reporting conditions. Table 2 lists

type becomes a statistically significant population. Figure

1 shows the distribution of Voc, Jsc, and Fill factor.

the ideality factor and the reverse saturation current density of the solar cells.
Table I. Parameters of high-efficiency CIGS solar cells.
Sample
Voc
EffiJsc
Fill
Number
ciency
(mA/cm2)
(V)
factor
(%)
(%)
S2212B1-3
0.701
34.60
79.65
19.3
S2212B1-4
0.704
34.33
79.48
19.2
S2212B1-5
0.703
34.08
79.23
19.0
S2213A1-3
0.740
31.72
78.47
18.4
S2213A1-4
0.737
31.66
78.08
18.2
S2229A1-3
0.720
32.86
80.27
19.0
S2229A1-5
0.724
32.68
80.37
19.0
S2229B1-2
0.731
31.84
80.33
18.7
S2229B1-4
0.728
31.87
80.16
18.7
S2232A1-3
0.703
33.94
79.67
19.0
S2232A1-4
0.704
33.83
80.09
19.1
S2232B1-2
0.717
33.58
79.41
19.1
S2232B1-3
0.713
33.38
79.54
18.9

Voc(V)

0.72
0.68
0.64
0.60
10

30
20
Cell Number

40

10

20
30
Cell Number

40

10

20
30
Cell Number

40

-32

Jsc(mA/cm )

-34

Table II. Diode parameters determined from light currentvoltage curves. J0 is the reverse saturation current density, and n is diode ideality factor.
2
n
Device Number
Jo (A/cm )
-11
S2212-B1-3
5x10
1.35
S2212-B1-4
6x10-11
1.36
S2212-B1-5
6x10-11
1.35
S2213-A1-3
4x10-10
1.57
S2213-B1-4
5x10-10
1.62

-30
-28
-26

The above results suggest that high efficiency CIGS solar

cells can be fabricated up to a bandgap of about 1.2 eV.
The advantage of using a higher band gap is the higher
open-circuit voltage and a lower temperature coefficient.
This also offers the possibility to reduce the number of
cells in a module. High voltages can be maintained along
with high fill factors, and the junctions are characterized by
low ideality factors and recombination (Jo).

Fill Factor (%)

85

Simplifying Window Layer Structure

80
75
70
65

In the fabrication of CIGS solar cells, it is customary

to use a high-low, resistivity grading of the ZnO layer. An
undoped layer of ZnO (high resisitivity) is first deposited on
the CdS, and this is followed by the deposition of a doped
layer. Maintaining adequate transparency and achieving
resistivity control of films sputtered from two separate targets is not a trivial problem. Moreover, it is not clear
whether the undoped layer is an essential part of the device and what role it plays in the junction. If it plays an
insignificant role, it can be removed. To evaluate this, we
have fabricated solar cells using the bilayer ZnO and the
doped layer only. Absorbers from five growth runs were
used for this purpose. Ten samples of each type were
prepared on adjacent parts of the absorbers. Each sample contained five solar cells. Hence, the properties of
solar cells with bilayer ZnO could be compared against
those with the doped layer fabricated on the same absorber and also against devices fabricated on four other
absorber runs. Thus, the distribution of 50 cells of each

Fig. 1. Voc, Jsc and fill factor of CIGS solar cells.

Solid circles: doped ZnO layer only; open circles:
bilayer ZnO.
An inspection of the data in Fig. 1 reveals that the parameters of the solar cells made without the undoped ZnO layer
are identical to those made with the bilayer. It must be
pointed out that each sample in this experiment has a spatial variation in the Ga content along its length, and a similar run-to-run variation exists among the five samples.
The experiment was repeated on another sample where
the CdS layer was deliberately made much thinner than
our standard process and similar results were obtained.
The average values of Voc, Jsc, FF, and efficiency for the
two cases are shown in Table 3. No AR coating was deposited on the above samples.

Solar cells fabricated from the three-stage absorber exhibited open circuit voltages in the range of 650-660 mV, current density of 32-33 mA.cm-2, fill factors of 77-78%, and
the best conversion efficiency was 16.5%. When we compare the Jsc of these cells with those of the standard cells
in Table 1, we find that the current loss due to thinning the
cell is about 2-3 mA.cm-2. The external quantum efficiency
of a solar cell is shown in Fig. 3. The spectral response
curve shows a decrease of the long wavelength collection.
This is most likely due to incomplete absorption of the long
wavelength photons.

Table 3. Properties of CIGS solar cells with doped ZnO

layer and bilayer ZnO. Values for the bilayer are given in
parentheses. No AR coating was deposited.
Voc (V)
Jsc
Fill Factor
Efficiency
(mA/cm2)
(%)
0.686
32.08
0.77
17
(0.685)
(32.06)
(0.76)
(16.8)
Thin CIGS Solar Cells
The price and availability of Indium will become dominant concerns for the CIS PV industry when larger-scale
production gets under way. One approach to mitigate this
would be to reduce the thickness of the absorber layer to a
half or quarter of the thickness presently used (2-2.5 m).
Indeed, several research groups have explored this issue
in some detail [5,6]. We have also begun a study of this
problem since it has been chosen as a priority research
topic for our program. We have made minor modifications
to the three-stage process to prepare thinner absorber
layers. We have also deposited thin CIGS layers by a
single-step co-deposition of all the elements. Absorbers
prepared by the three-stage process may be graded band
gap materials, whereas co-deposition can provide uniform
band gap. A comparison of the materials and devices
prepared by the two methods would then allow us to separate out the contributions due to bandgap grading. Fig. 2
shows cross-sectional views of the samples obtained by
scanning electron microscopy.

100
Std cell
External QE(%)

80
1m cell
60
40
20
0
400

600
800
1000
Wavelength (nm)

1200

Fig. 3. Quantum efficiency of a thin CIGS solar cell.

Also shown is the quantum efficiency of a standard
cell.
We have obtained a similar result with absorbers fabricated by co-deposition. The composition of the absorber,
determined by electron probe microanalysis was similar to
the three-stage absorber. In this case, we obtained an
efficiency of nearly 17%. The parameters of the best cells
obtained by the two methods are shown in Table 4, below.
Further optimization of the growth processes could lead to
a higher efficiency. We are also undertaking a study of the
recombination processes.
Table 4. Properties of 1-m thick CIGS solar cells fabricated by three-stage process and co-deposition; the latter
are shown in parentheses.
Voc (V)
Jsc
Fill Factor
Efficiency
(mA/cm2)
(%)
0.648
32.6
0.78
16.5
(0.703)
(32.1)
(0.75)
(16.9)
CONCLUSIONS
We have reported the properties of CIGS cells with
bandgaps in the range of 1.1-1.2 eV and demonstrated the
ability to achieve high efficiency. High open-circuit voltages are obtained in conjunction with high fill factors. A
study of the properties of the solar cells with and without
the undoped ZnO layer strongly suggests that highly efficient cells can be fabricated without using the undoped
ZnO layer even when the CdS layer is made very thin.

Fig. 2. SEM images of thin CIGS absorbers grown

by three-stage (top) and co-deposition (bottom)
processes. The bottom layer in each image is a
two-layer Mo film.

[2] K. Ramanathan, M.A. Contreras, C.L. Perkins, S.

Asher, F.S. Hasoon, J. Keane, D. Young, M. Romero, W.
Metzger, R. Noufi, J. Ward, and A. Duda, Properties of
19.2% efficiency ZnO/CdS/CuInGaSe2 thin film solar
cells, Prog. Photovolt: Res. Appl. 11, 2003, pp. 225-230.
[3] J. Kessler, M.Bodegard, J. Hedstrom, and L. Stolt,
Baseline Cu(In,Ga)Se2 device production: control and
statistical significance, Solar Energy Materials and Solar
Cells, 67, 2001, pp. 67-76.
[4] D.E. Tarrant, R. Gay, V. Probst, and F. Karg, CIS thin
film development and product status at Shell Solar, May
2003, 3rd WCPEC, Osaka, Japan, May 2003.
[5] T.Negami, S. Nishiwaki, Y. Hashimoto, and N. Kohara,
Effect of the absorber thickness on performance of
Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells, Proceedings of the 2nd
WCPEC, Vienna, 1998; pp. 11811184.
[6] O. Lundberg, M. Bodegard, J. Malmstrom, and L. Stolt,
Influence of the Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thickness and Ga grading
on solar cell performance, Prog. Photovolt: Res. Appl: 11,
2003, pp. 77-88.

This might allow simplification of the device processing.

We have also reported high efficiency cells (16%-17%)
using CIGS absorbers in the thickness range around 1
m.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was performed for the U.S. DOE PV Program
under Contract No. DE-AC36-99GO10337 to NREL. The
authors would like to thank M.A. Contreras, F.S. Hasoon,
and R. Bhattacharya for helpful discussions; B. To, J.S.
Ward, J. Dolan and J. Alleman for technical assistance; T.
Moriarty for cell characterization; and L.L. Kazmerski for
his encouragement.
REFERENCES
[1] T. Negami, Y. Hashimoto, and S. Nishiwaki,
Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin-film solar cells with an efficiency of
18%, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 67, 2001,
pp. 331-335.

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We present experimental results in three areas. Solar cells with an efficiency of 19% have been fabricated with an
absorber bandgap in the range of 1.1-1.2 eV. Properties of solar cells fabricated with and without an undoped ZnO layer
were compared. The data show that high efficiency cells can be fabricated without using the high-resisitivity or undoped
ZnO layer. Properties of CIGS solar cells were fabricated from thin absorbers (1 m) deposited by the three-stage
process and simultaneous co-deposition of all the elements. In both cases, solar cells with efficiencies of 16%-17% are
obtained.
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PV; high efficiency; solar cells; window layer structure; absorber bandgap; three-stage process;
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